If you own a Visa debit, prepaid or gift card, you have several options for loading money onto the card to use at whatever retailers and businesses accept Visa. For most of its products, Visa partners with a retailer, bank or other financial institution to offer the card, rather than selling to consumers directly. To load money onto a Visa card, you go through the card issuer.
Issuer's Website
Step 1
Set up an account with your card's issuer. Most issuers require you to have an online account with them before you can load money onto your card.
Step 2
Link your checking or savings account to the card via your online account. Depending on the type of card, you might only be able to link certain bank accounts to use to reload your card. For example, the Commerce Bank My Spending Card lets you add money to the prepaid Visa card from a bank account, but it has to be a Commerce Bank checking or savings account.
Step 3
Call the card issuer's customer service department or visit a local branch. Some issuers let you add money over the phone or at one of their branches.
Visa ReadyLink
Step 1
Use the ReadyLink website to search for the nearest ReadyLink retail location. If your Visa card has the ReadyLink symbol, you can reload it at one of these participating locations. You can also purchase a Visa prepaid card at most of these locations.
Step 2
Give the ReadyLink cashier your card and the cash to go on the card. She swipes your card and adds the money to it. Some locations have a self-service kiosk where you swipe your card and add the funds by following the kiosk prompts.
Step 3
Fill out the Blue Form if you are using ReadyLink at a MoneyGram location. Or, use the MoneyGram phone to add funds to the card.
Direct Deposit
Step 1
Get a Visa prepaid card from your employer. For example, some employers give employees a Visa Payroll Card and then deposit the employee's paycheck onto the card each pay period. The employee also has the option of adding his own money to the card using ReadyLink.
Step 2
Give your employer a prepaid direct deposit form if your employer does not offer its own prepaid card. Other Visa cards, including the Ion Visa prepaid card, let you set up direct deposit. The Ion card provides a form on its website that you can give to your employer to set up the direct deposits for you.
Step 3
Decide how much of your payroll you want directly deposited. The Ion card, for example, lets you choose to deposit the full paycheck, a certain percentage or a set amount.