A prepaid debit card is a debit card that you load money onto in advance before spending. Prepaid cards differ from a bank account debit card because bank account debit cards are linked to your checking account. A prepaid card, in most cases, will not let you spend more money than what you have loaded onto the card.  Another thing to note is that while most regular checking accounts provide you with checks, prepaid cards will usually not. How hard is it to get a prepaid card? Not hard at all, they're simple and easy to get. There is typically no credit check, and they’re often available even if you can’t get a bank account because of a bad banking history.