For ten years, running an online business with several unpredictable and ongoing charges has made it a challenge to keep a constant positive balance at all times in my funding source.  At times one expense has set off a nasty chain reaction of overdrafts that has eaten up all profit I theoretically derived from running several websites at a time. 

It's also been a call to arms to abandon traditional banking as a way to manage my money.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the local bank I used used to have unpredictable availability of funds.  Apparently balances were wired to the central bank when they felt like it, which would make funds available from 1-5 days.  So when I got word that a charge was coming from my online companies (or had to check my notes, which was the usual way with Web 1.0 customer service), I'd often start a frantic race to get money into the bank 4-5 days ahead.

I kept on top of it 95% of the time, but often a real-life emergency would dip into my reserves, and sometimes disaster would start in the form of an overdraft of $1.00 or less.  That would disrupt my online services, I'd lose customers, and it would set off a series of unavoidable bounces that would turn off all my web services for weeks until I could cough up $200 or far more for $15 to $75 in web service charges.  Most of the time it was more than enough to convince me working online had no merit at all.

One time after online auction debits from trying to sell a car triggered an attempt at bricks-and-mortar robbery of $3,650 a year in overdraft fees.  I finally had to convince the bank manager to accept a weekly payment so I could pay it down by the end of the month like I intended.

Finally my bank got with the 2000s and allowed next-day and then instant withdrawal, but the damage was done: my balance was a wasteland lined with smoldering craters and bits of scorched dollar bills.

I got my final overdraft (from trying to close an account) paid two weeks ago, one that the bank waived since my online contracts all but dried up during the recession in the first half of the year.  In spite of taking a trip to the office to settle up -- they referred my pittance to collections, who sent me back to the bank -- they told me if I had one more overdraft they might close my account without notice.

That was the last straw.  After always having repaid any overdrafts with secondary income over the last ten years while bank funds availability slowly improved to a level that didn't hurt my business, I was being treated like rehabilitated criminal who couldn't handle receipts for a lemonade stand the boss kept stealing money from.

So I booted the so-called boss, moved my lemonade stand to a better financial neighborhood, and discovered the world of prepaid debit cards.

The first thing I discovered about prepaid debit cards is that companies that make them treat their customers with dignity, and acknowledge how easy it is not to have funds at all times.

But more than just providing lip service for a shellacked-over "gotcha", these companies work with me to prevent predatory fees and disastrous chain reactions.  One, especially, has been great for my financial well-being this past month: MyGreenDot.com.

It all starts in pretty much any major retailer, though I've been able to reload my card at the Cumberland Farms chain of convenience stores.   All you do is buy a temporary card and pay a few extra dollars for the cashier to load your card with any practical amount you'll need for the next few days.  From there, you activate it by phone or online.  I thought having no cell phone (which I've just gotten back through paying by MGD) would have prevented me from verifying the permanent card they'd be sending out.  But a patient, efficient and friendly customer service rep walked me through after I was told I needed to provide further information.  Then I went right to using the card online.

For the next few days, I was happy.  I was able to keep my websites up and running; even Yahoo and Google, which have had issues with debit cards in the last few years, put my card on file without so much as a single error.

Then, right on time, the card showed up in a nondescript, "please don't steal me, I'm so boring" envelope and after visiting MyGreenDot.com I was able to use it in about an hour.  Then came an unexpected extra that makes me even happier: daily balance reports.

WIth 400 automated emails sitting in my inbox, most new emails annoy me and are mass-deleted.  But MyGreenDot emails are always welcome: they show me my balance every day.  They don't tell me, like my bank did, to use their website instead of calling the branch office.  There's my balance, every time I open their daily updates.  The site encourages me to use the card, too, with charts showing how much I've deposited and how many times I've used the card in a month.  I thought it was economically unfeasible to use my card 30 times a month to get my $6.95 monthly fee eliminated, but I've started using the card for my breaks and lunch at work.

Another great feature they have is the automatic decline of excessive charges.  Fortunately, this hasn't happened yet, and with the daily updates I get, only major incapacitation will prevent me from responsively and responsibly managing incoming charges from my web services.  Like any reasonable company, this one reserves the right to cancel the card for any reason.  But with all the money-saving features I get from using MyGreenDot, my funds processor is slowly improving my financial well-being.

With the money I've saved in would-be overdrafts and online service interruptions, MyGreenDot has more than earned the less-than-$20 I've spent, first to get the card and reload it twice with over $400.  No transaction I've done anywhere has had any extra charges tacked on; with their $4.95 per reload option, MGD has a profitable, self-sustaining business model that doesn't burn the user with hidden charges.

Yes, MyGreenDot is ultimately run by a bank.  But this is a bank I'm thrilled to deal with, and one that I hope puts my predatory old bricks-and-mortar bank out of business.  If you've suffered at the hands of an antagonistic bank while trying to run your own ventures, I have good news: there is a new era in mutual financial responsibility.

MyGreenDot, thank you.