Living (and loving) Life
If you do not have a credit card, you may find it frustrating when you find something online that you want to buy.
Are you tired of asking your friends to purchase things with their credit cards for you in exchange for cash or paying more for items in stores than you would spend for them online?
If so, here are four great ways to buy things online without a credit card:
1 – Use Gift Cards
Gift cards have been a favorite way to gift friends and loved money ones for decades, but you don’t have to buy them just as gifts. You can actually purchase them and use them yourself.
Many local stores sell gift cards for other retailers, including online venues like Amazon. And using them is easy…
Simply buy the gift card at a local store and then use it to make purchases on the company’s website. In many cases you’ll see the option to pay with a gift card right on the checkout page, while other sites will require you to activate the card and transfer the cash to your gift card balance prior to initiating the checkout process. Either way it’s almost always fast and easy.
2 – Prepaid Visa Debit Cards
A very simple way to make purchases online without a credit card is to use a prepaid Visa debit card. You can buy these cards and fund them in person at stores like gas stations, grocery stores and even your local Walmart.
3 – PayPal
PayPal is a great way to buy things online if you don’t have a credit card. PayPal is an excellent option even for people who do have credit cards because they ensure secure transactions. You will need a bank account to open a PayPal account, and you will need to have the funds available in your bank account when you make a purchase with PayPal. PayPal is an ideal option for individuals who have bank accounts because it does not cost you anything to use the payment service. PayPal is not accepted at all online stores, but it is an option for many online purchases.
4 – PayPal Credit
You can give yourself an instant, 6 month interest free loan with PayPal Credit. It’s easy to apply, and if approved PayPal will immediately add the loan amount to your PayPal balance.
This is a great way to buy an important item that you need right now and then pay for it after you receive your next paycheck. Just be sure to remember to pay it off within 6 months to avoid incurring interest charges (which will accrue retroactively back to the day you took out the loan).