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PREPAID CARDS’ GOLDEN FLEECE

Credit cards, debit cards and other fee-hungry cards will suck away your money, but none quite like the new prepaid cards.

“We dubbed the prepaid cards the priciest plastic of all,” said Tracy Shelton, staff lawyer for the New York Public Interest Research Group, which released a report yesterday on the charges consumers pay for using plastic.

“In general usage, [the fees mounted to] $251 over the course of a year. This isn’t for interest or getting credit. This is just having your own money on a plastic card and buying things with it.”

The prepaid cards are marketed primarily to people without bank accounts or those with bad credit.

In some instances, activating the card can cost up to $100, Shelton said.

If you add money to the card, there’s a load fee. And the average fee for just having the card is $69.70 a year, according to the report.