Cash Card

A cash card can come in handy if you're the type who doesn't like to carry a lot of dollar bills around. Mugger bait, right?

Several flavors of cash cards exist. The most popular is the standard bank debit card that is tied directly to your checking account. You can use it to pay for stuff or take out cash from an ATM, and the amount is immediately deducted from your account.

Gift cards are another type of cash card (bet you didn't think of these as a cash card). These cards typically work for a particular store, but more general types exist...cards that can be used anywhere, such as an American Express gift card.

Meanwhile, there are other types of cash cards. For those who don't have a bank account, there are prepaid cash cards that let you load them up for a certain amount. Payroll cards are also used for this purpose and are like a direct deposit each month...only instead of getting the money in an account, your card gets charged up with your earnings. The most recent type of cash card is from companies like Square that involve downloading cash to an app on your phone. Not connected to your bank, you transfer funds to the app...then you can send, receive and spend the cash.

The big difference in a cash card versus a credit card is that in a cash card, you already have the cash. There is no credit (read: risk) to a bank. They aren't loaning you money for that transaction on the hope, whim and fancy that you'll pay it back. Since the cash is there, it's a boon to merchants because they get charged less in for transaction fees relative to a credit card...hence the subtle or not so subtle push for you to use cash cards.