Yes! You can use a prepaid debit card from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover to rent and purchase movies through Redbox. The US video rental company has 36,000 automated retail kiosks across the country where you can rent DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD movies using your prepaid debit card for $1.75 each per day.
You can also use your prepaid debit card to stream movies through Redbox On Demand. It’s a pay-as-you-go service, and that means no monthly subscription fee. Movie rentals are available for affordable prices starting at $1.99.
Prepaid debit card payments don’t only apply to movie rentals through Redbox kiosks or Red-box on-demand. You can also use them to purchase movies.
What is Redbox?
People all over the country can rent movies with ease thanks to Redbox. The red cubicle structures have grown in popularity since its launch in 2002. You’ll find them in grocery stores, street corners, convenience stores, and more.
Unlike streaming sites, such as Netflix and Hulu, Redbox has a physical presence. It aims to make new releases available to the public for affordable prices and without the need for a monthly subscription through its automated kiosks and on-demand service.
You don’t need to have a credit card to rent or purchase a movie, although that’s a common method of payment. Swipe your prepaid debit card to pay for the total cost of your rented movies and that’s it. Just make sure there’s enough balance on the card to cover the amount.
You’re expected to return the disc by 9:00 p.m. the day after you rented the movie. You can return the disc to any Redbox kiosk near you. It doesn’t have to be the exact kiosk where you rented the movie. If you fail to return the disk, you’ll be charged for extra rental days.
How about Redbox On Demand? Once you rent on-demand, you’ll have 30 days to watch the movie. You’ll get 48 hours to finish it once you start watching. You’ll see how many hours are left in your On-Demand rental on the movie’s detail page.
What are the accepted payment options for Redbox rentals?
How to use Redbox without a credit card? The answer is prepaid debit cards. Aside from that option, Redbox kiosks also accept regular debit cards, as well as Discover, Mastercard, Visa, and American Express credit cards. You can also make payments using Redbox cards and touchless payments through mobile wallets. For Redbox movies-on-demand, you can use either a prepaid debit and regular debit or credit card.
Why use a prepaid debit card to rent movies from Redbox?
Many people prefer prepaid debit cards not only for Redbox rentals but for other purchases as well because they’re easy and convenient to use. They work much like a debit card. However, you can only spend the amount that you load into the card. If your balance in the prepaid debit card is insufficient, you can simply reload the card with the amount you need.
Financial service providers, credit card companies, banks, and even retailers offer this type of card. There are different ways to load money onto the card. You can do it through cash, direct deposit, checks, or a money transfer from a different account. Some prepaid debit cards charge a fee for every ATM transaction or purchase you make. You may also have to pay an activation fee and a monthly service fee.
You can use prepaid debit cards at any merchant that accepts payment networks, such as Mastercard and Visa. Aside from renting movies from Redbox, you can use your prepaid debit card to shop online or offline, pay bills, eat out, and more.
They have expiration dates, too. Once it expires, you have to get in touch with the card issuer and ask for a new one, with a new expiration date and all the funds you had on your expired card.
Can you use a friend’s prepaid debit card to pay for your Redbox movie rental?
Yes, you can borrow a prepaid debit card from someone you know and use it to pay for your movie rental. As long as the owner of the card allows you to do so, there should be no problem. You can also lend your card to someone who wishes to use Redbox.
Pros and Cons of Using Prepaid Cards
What are the benefits of using a prepaid debit card?
The market for prepaid debit cards is expected to grow at a rate of 14.9% from 2020 to 2027. It means more people will use prepaid debit cards in the coming years. Some benefits of prepaid debit cards include the following:
- It’s convenient to use
- You don’t have to carry a lot of cash if you need to go shopping
- Getting a prepaid debit card doesn’t require a credit check, which is beneficial if you have a less-than-stellar credit report
- It’s the perfect solution if you’re trying to avoid overspending
What are the disadvantages of a prepaid debit card?
But just like everything else, prepaid debit cards also come with their own set of disadvantages.
- Purchases or payments made through prepaid debit cards can’t be used to build or repair your credit.
- They don’t come with most of the features that are offered with a checking account like online or mobile banking.
- There are limits to the amount you can reload or withdraw.
- They have expiration dates. You have to request a new card once it expires. Your new prepaid debit card will include the balance, which you had on your previous card.
- They don’t have fraud or liability protection that regular debit cards have under federal law.
- They don’t require a pin unless you are using an ATM to access your funds. So, thieves can easily take all the money you have on your prepaid debit card.
How does Redbox charge your card?
Redbox keeps their client’s convenience as one of their top priorities and that’s why they simplified the processing of the payments.
Your card is charged only once
If you follow the rental schedule, your card will only be charged once. Your card will be charged once again for additional rental days. Multiple charges are a thing of the past for Redbox. They changed the way they bill your card. Now, you’ll only be charged once for the total amount you owe, which includes the number of movies rented and additional rental days. The single charge applies regardless of how many movies you rent and whether you return all of them together or on different days.
Your card is charged after you return the disc
When you rent Redbox movies and swipe your card to pay, you won’t be charged right away. The amount you owe will remain as a pending charge until you return the disc you rented. Your card will be charged after you return the disc. It also applies to multiple movie rentals. Your card will be charged after you return the last disc. Of course, the amount will also include additional rental days and any purchase you made when you rented a movie.
Can you use your prepaid debit card to purchase gift cards and promo codes?
Unfortunately, you can’t use prepaid debit cards to purchase Redbox e-gift cards and promo codes. The only payment option for such a purchase is through Discover, American Express, Mastercard, or Visa credit card.
What are Redbox gift cards?
A Redbox card is a physical or e-gift card that can be used to pay for movie rentals or purchases, as long as it contains sufficient balance. You can purchase e-gift cards for yourself or someone else. Just key in the email address of the recipient at the time of purchase. Note, however, that you can only rent two movies at a time when using the Redbox card.
You can use the physical gift card to reserve movies at a kiosk or online via redbox.com. The gift card will be sent to the mailing address you provided at the time of the purchase.
Meanwhile, e-gift cards are provided to you electronically via the email address you provided at the time of purchase. They can only be used for advance movie reservations through redbox.com, which you’ll then pick up at the kiosk. E-gift card amounts range between $5 and $150 in increments of $5. Once it’s purchased, there’s no way to add to the amount unless you buy another e-gift card. E-gift cards are non-refundable but the funds won’t expire. You need to have a Redbox profile to use it.
What are Redbox promo codes?
Promo codes are available in 5,10, 20, and 50 per package. You can purchase one for yourself or someone else. All you need to do is key in your email address or that of the recipient at the time of the purchase. Once done, the promo codes will be sent to their email. If you want to send the codes to different people, you can have them delivered to your email. You can then send the codes you want to give to the email addresses of your chosen recipients. Promo codes don’t expire but they can only be used for one-day rentals.
Conclusion
Redbox is the perfect option if you want to rent or purchase movies without paying a monthly subscription fee. It’s an affordable pay-as-you-go service that’s available across the United States through physical automated kiosks or on-demand streaming service. You can use your prepaid debit card, regular debit card, or credit card to rent or purchase a movie.