Mobile financial services is starting to pick up in the US. The Mobile Money concept is quite simple: you need an IOS or Android smartphone; you download an app to your phone; you sign-up for Mobile Money with T-Mobile and get a prepaid Visa card.
If you are a T-Mobile customer, you can deposit checks for free into your mobile Money account by simply taking a picture of them with your phone. Direct deposits are also free of charge. You withdraw money for free from a network of 42,000 ATM machines. If you need to reload your account with cash, you can do so for free at T-Mobile stores. There is no activation fee, no minimum balance, and no monthly maintenance fee.
Who is Mobile Money for?
Mobile Money is targeting the 68 million Americans who lack a bank account or debit card. Bacause the card is pre-paid, no credit check is done. The card is available to US permanent residents age 18 and above. A physical US street address and a social security number is also required.
To register, you will be asked for your name, address, date of birth and social security number. You may also be asked to provide a copy of an identification document such as your driver’s license.
It is not a requirement that you are a T-Mobile customer, but as you will see below, if you are not, the monthly charge, retail purchase fees and withdrawal fees will probably not make it worthwhile.
0 fees on standard banking for T-Mobile customers
As the table shows, Mobile Money is mostly free with standard banking. T-Mobile customers only pay a surcharge for expedited cheque deposits, and express delivery of replacement cards.
The surcharge free ATM network of 42,000 points, include 7-Eleven and McDonalds. If you go outside the network, the withdrawal fee is steep at $2 per withdrawal.
Overall, Mobile Money offers a very competitive package for T-Mobile customers. The question is then: are you are paying a premium for T-Mobile service compared to Sprint, AT&T, Verizon? If you are looking for the best 4G speed and the most stable network, you might want to go for Verizon. For 3G speed, AT&T is still in the lead.
But if you are looking for an affordable monthly plan, T-Mobile compares favourably with the other providers. You will be better off if you already have a device, as while the monthly costs at T-Mobile are low, the phone purchase costs are less competitive.
Restrictions and limitations
Mobile Money is a prepaid card. This means that you cannot purchase on credit. You can only use what you have on your account.
The minimum initial value load is $20 and the maximum initial value load is $500.
After you have activated your card, you can reload your card with funds as many time you like. However, the maximum amount of value reloads you may make to your account in one day is $2,500. You may have direct deposits coming in larger than $2,500, but then your daily limit is met and you will have to wait until the next day for further reloads.
You will in normal cases have access to your funds within one hour.
You can send $100 a day, and up to $500 in a month to other Mobile Money users.