It’s hard to feel optimistic in today’s financial climate. It seems like everywhere the news is bad. On a personal level, we’re all feeling our own version of the financial squeeze too. It just seems like things are spinning out of control.

That’s where prepaid debit cards come in. These cards are really financial tools that we can use to take back control over our finances. Let me explain.

Prepaid cards are simply cards that you load before you spend. They’re Visa and MasterCards, but they have no interest, minimum payments, or credit limit. You simply buy them, load them up, and away you go. You don’t need a bank account and you don’t need a credit history to get one either. They’ve become a great option to regular credit cards.

They come with the same features as regular credit cards too. In fact, you can use them just about anywhere a regular MasterCard or Visa credit card can be used. But what really makes them so attractive is that they don’t have the same downside as today’s credit cards.

For example, you can only spend what you’ve already loaded on a prepaid card. So overspending is difficult. But credit cards often let you “overspend” and that can mean credit trouble. Prepaid debit cards have no interest rate either, while credit cards do - and these interest rates can explode on you too without much warning. Also, you’ll never have a never-ending minimum payment with a prepaid card either.

Working with prepaid cards of course means you must exercise more discipline over your spending. Say goodbye to impulse buys and say hello to saving and planning. It’s a little old-fashioned, but it will save you money in the long run.

That’s why more and more people are using prepaid debit cards. They recognize that we’ve all been going on for too long without proper controls on our spending. And prepaid cards are a great tool to help you rebuild good habits and fight your way back to financial security.

If you haven’t thought about a prepaid debit card before, maybe now’s the time. You can acquire one very easily and they’re just as easy to use. Try one, and you just might find what so many other people have found, that a prepaid card is the plastic of the future.