Product Trends Magazine

About the company: "AccountNow, headquartered in San Ramon, California, is the premier provider of financial solutions for the millions of US consumers who do not have established credit or traditional banking relationships. Our money saving offers give consumers an alternative to "traditional" checking accounts and access to the financial and payment systems, including Debit MasterCard cards, and Pay Anyone bill payment Customers can rest assured in knowing their money is safe - protected by FDIC Insurance and the MasterCard Zero Liability Policy for unauthorized use."

The big pitch: An easy approval, no paperwork, simple enrollment debit credit card with guaranteed approval.

If you’ve ever tried to set up a bank account in the USA without great credit or proper ID, you know that it’s nearly impossible. Every single bank in the land will refuse you a bank account if you don’t give them several copies of ID, and when you have your account, they’ll charge you a fortune in fees just to get to your money.

Recently, because many people don’t like their SSN being available to anyone who works for a bank, or anyone who buys customer information from the bank, or anyone who hacks customer information from the bank, a new trend has emerged - that of the easy approval, no paperwork, easy enrollment debit credit card.

How does this help you? Simple. It means that you can have a bank account that is totally secure, linked to a credit card, usable in ATM machines, has easier access, lower fees, is FDIC insured, and requires no credit check for you to be approved. The AccountNow Vantage debit Mastercard can save you hundreds of dollars in check cashing fees, bill paying expenses and paycheck direct deposit costs, because it’s designed to do what your bank just won’t.

First of all, it works exactly like a credit card, in that you can withdraw money from any of over 900,000 ATMs, or just swipe your card like any other Visa or Mastercard purchase. You can write up to 7 free ‘online checks’ to pay bills, you’re guaranteed approval, so there’s no credit check and no security deposit, and the card itself and the bank behind it is 100% insured with the FDIC, and also adheres to Mastercard’s Zero Liability plan, which ensures that should anyone use your card illegally, it won’t hurt your hip pocket.

Enrollment is simple as you can imagine. Just give your name, address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, whether or not your employer uses direct deposit for your paychecks, and what design you want your credit card to have. After you’ve done that, the system will approve you automatically, right there and then.

Your previous banking history just doesn’t matter. Your credit history? Irrelevant. Previous bankruptcies? No problem. All they want to know is that you’re real person, over the age of 18, and that you actually reside in the US.

Now, the only question left is, ‘Why is it so easy with AccountNow?’ and the answer is simple. This is a ‘debit’ credit card, which means you must deposit $100 to activate the card, and you’ll be drawing from the money that is already deposited in your account. No, it’s not as good as being given a $10,000 credit line, but if you just want an easy to use bank account with an easy to get debit card that works like a credit card, this is the plan for you.

But before you kick in for one, you should know the deal with fees. Firstly, when you send them a wire transfer to deposit money in your account, that’ll cost you $10. You can avoid this, however, by banking online or sending a check, so no problem there. Next, if you go over your limit, they’ll hit you with a $29 overdraft fee, which is nasty, but if you keep a positive balance, again that’s not an issue. The aspect of the AccountNow Vantage Debit Mastercard that gets us more than a little annoyed is that if you try to use your card and it gets declined, they’ll charge you 50c. Why? What’s the point in that? It doesn’t cost them anything to refuse your card, so why charge you for the privilege?

Aside from that minor piece of extortion, most of the other fees are reaosnable, if they even exist. Online web service is free, so too is your monthly online statement. If you want a paper version, that’s a $5 charge, and if you need to talk to their customer service people, they’ll charge you $3… and they’ll ALSO charge you $9.95 in monthly maintenance fees.

Deposits are free, signature purchases are free at stores and restaurants, but ATM purchases range between 25c and $2, and even if all you do is ask for a balance inquiry, they’ll STILL charge you for the privilege, in this case $1.

The Product Trends rating: The risk here is negligible, because you’re only using your own money, which makes interest rates irrelevant, but the downside of that is that AccountNow will burn you on little fees and charges at Every. Single. Turn. If you’re smart, you can avoid most of them, but not all, which leaves us thinking that if you can’t get a bank account elsewhere, and you’re prepared to take a few fee hits to get one, then this is the card for you. Otherwise, you might want to keep looking. Two stars.

To try AccountNow Vantage Debit Mastercard for yourself, click the image below: