It’s beyond frustrating when you need to get an item on EBay, set up a PayPal account, pay a bill, subscribe to a magazine, join an online gaming site…shall I go on...and you have no credit card. It’s just as daunting to try to sign up for a new service which requires a Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express, as a kind of collateral, and you have no credit card.

Maybe you have bad credit, or maybe you have no credit established yet (which according to the big guys, is as bad as having bad credit, by the way). Or maybe you don’t use credit cards online because you don’t trust the server, the service, the company, or the process of paying online with a card.I just learned that for those of us fitting into one of the above categories, for those of us who have no credit card, for example, there is a temporary solution—there is the temporary credit card. Evidently, you can buy the temporary card as a gift card, putting a predetermined amount of money on the card, and then using it with the confidence and satisfaction a long-term, regular card offers. What is especially beneficial about this kind of credit card is that it can be used to pay for a one-time service or product: many sites, services, memberships, and subscriptions get rolled over. That is, you input a credit card number when you sign up, then each month the company automatically charges your card. If you do not want to be charged eternally, and wish to avoid the occasional hell of unsubscribing, or if you have no credit card to begin with, or if you have a new card you do not want sucked up in fees with one service or company, the temporary card is the way to go it seems.Then again, if you have no credit card and want one to establish and build a line of credit,

the temporary card will not do. Instead, you might get a long-term card which you establish credit with by putting money on the card—as you would put money in the bank. Be very cautious when doling out two- or three-hundred dollar increments, however. Check the company against the BBB (Better Business Bureau), read ALL of the fine print, and get everything in writing before signing. I have done the latter—got a no credit card which I paid to open, had a balance of 300 dollars because I put 300 (plus fees, etc.) on the card. It was a decent way to get started when I had no credit cards. I have, also, considered the former—getting a temporary card to pay for a one-time service which would inevitably roll over and over and over. That is, in case my other cards max out or I want to visit a special site out of curiosity of course, and do not want to have a major card charged for eternity for one night of fun.