Pre-paid card to manage your direct payment

Benefits of the card

• Funds are preloaded onto the card by the council and yourself if you have been assessed to make a financial contribution to make towards your support.
• You can use the card to pay for care and support to meet your needs, as agreed in your support plan - up to the value that is loaded on to the card.
• When the funds are transferred onto your Prepaid Card they are available for you to use instantly.
• You can view all your spend activity online and all this information is retained and available to print at your convenience. You can also telephone the Prepaid Card Services to find out your account balance.
• The card is MasterCard enabled, which means it gives you greater flexibility when paying for your support requirements including online and over the telephone.
• The card offers you a flexible, fast and convenient way to manage your direct payments, without the need to send us your statements regularly, meaning you can worry less about your paperwork and focus more on what is important to you.

Benefits of a pre-paid card

• It's simple and easy to use
• There's immediate access to funds
• There's no need to send us your bank statements - meaning less paperwork for you to complete and fewer records to keep
• There's dedicated telephone and online support for customers to check your balance and payments
• There's no need to set up a separate bank account
• You can set up direct debits from your card and make one off payments online or over the telephone
• You can't spend more money than is loaded onto your card so you don't have to worry about going over budget

Getting your prepaid card

• We will set up the card on your behalf. We will ask you for information in order to do this and once done, we will post a card to your address. (It usually takes up to 10 working days to set up your account and deliver your card).
• Before you can start using your card you will need to activate it - instructions on how to do this will be issued with your card.
• You will have a unique PIN for your card which you should not share with anyone else.
• If you think your card's security has been compromised, or that your card is lost or has been stolen, you must inform Prepaid Card Services on 02071 274276 - It usually takes up to 10 working days to replace your card.