YouTrip and Revolut are prepaid cards. These are special versions of debit cards. They do not have access to your banks unlike traditional debit cards.
All debit and credit cards have to provide dispute resolution framework to deal with frauds. In short, whether debit, credit or prepaid, they all have access to the same dispute process.
The main difference is that a credit card gives you credit. Charge and pay later. If there's a dispute, you still have the money. However, you're still liable for the amount if the dispute outcome is not in favor of you. Using a credit card does not mean you auto win. It just means that you don't have to pay the outstanding amount during the resolution process.
A debit card has direct access to your bank. You potentially can be out of the full fraudulent amount. You might eventually recover the money but that depends on the outcome of the dispute.
A prepaid card works similarly to a debit card. The major difference is that a prepaid card does not have direct access to your bank. You have to top up the card. If there's a fraudulent transaction, it offers the same process as a debit or credit card. Your total money out is whatever you have in the prepaid card.
So what's the deal with prepaid card? The potential max loss. Your potential max loss of a credit card is your credit limit. For a debit card, it's the credit limit or the amount in your bank account, whichever is higher. For a prepaid, the amount inside the card.
So why is a prepaid so attractive? You don't have money inside it most of the time. Let's say I suffer a fraud on both a prepaid and credit card. Somebody charge $100 to both my cards. The credit card will allow it through (let's assume it pass all other checks) but if the prepaid card only have $50 in it, the transaction will fail regardless of all the other checks. In this case I don't even need to dispute anything while the credit card holder have to waste time disputing. So why subject yourself to unnecessary risk and stress?
But what if the transaction is only $50? Then both will waste time disputing. The prepaid card holder meanwhile will be out of pocket $50.
I choose prepaid for risky transactions because I don't want to waste time disputing. I can accept a total loss of up to $100. That is what I usually have in my YouTrip card. I don't want to expose myself thousands of dollars.
Disclaimer : I'm not in the financial industry and I don't root for any of these cards. I'm just sharing my train of thoughts. I use both credit and prepaid. I ban debit in my household unless absolutely necessary.
