The rising prices at the fuel pumps combined with higher utility bills and taxes is costing the average householder an extra £12 per week more than last year*. Even the UK’s chief executive of Tesco, one of the most successful brands in Britain, is concerned, recognising that the squeeze on disposable incomes is a “Real challenge” and that his customers were now “Paranoid about debt”*.

One way of coping with bigger bills is to stick closely to a realistic budget, so using pre paid credit cards can really help. Customers can top up the card just after payday, or when they’ve received benefits, with the money needed to cover their bills – for everything from fuel to food. That way they can be sure that the money they’ll need to pay for the essentials is ring-fenced from their seemingly shrinking ‘disposable income’.

And because the card is a prepaid credit card, customers load the card with their own money, so they can rest easy about getting carried away with their spending.

Because there are no credit checks needed, getting a prepaid card is quick and easy. Applying takes minutes online, and as long as the customer is 18 or over and lives in the UK, approval is guaranteed, with the card arriving in five working days.

One prepaid credit card that stands out is the Cashplus prepaid Gold MasterCard® card. The company behind this card understands that however hard a customer tries to stick to a sensible budget, from time to time they may get a bill that they just didn’t anticipate – from a larger than expected utility bill to an urgently needed repair. Their answer is to provide a short-term loan of up to £400 to help cover the bill, with the money in the customer’s account within an hour of the loan being approved. What’s more, there’s up to 25 days to repay the money.

Yet another great way that a prepaid credit card can help customers to balance bills!

*Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/16/rising-fuel-price-in-income-tax-tesco