How to Get All Your Money off The Emerald Card

These days, there are all types of cards that you can carry which can be pre-loaded with a certain amount of money and then used in much the same way that you would use a bank card or credit card.

A lot of times, those cards are distributed by places that do your taxes like H&R Block. There are times when you might find it beneficial to use such a card, but there are other times when using one can become more of a hassle than anything else.

A perfect example is the Emerald Card, something that a lot of people have been issued in the past. Many people want to know how to move their money from the card to their bank account. Fortunately, it is possible for you to do exactly that, but there is a bit of a process that you need to follow. That process will be further outlined in the following paragraphs.

All About the Emerald Card

As previously mentioned, the Emerald Card is supposed to give you the maximum level of flexibility when it comes to using your money. H&R Block and others like them often give you an opportunity to get your tax refund back with that money attached to the card, telling you that you can use it in exactly the same way that you would use a debit or credit card.

That might sound good, but sometimes it’s just easier to put the money into your bank account. This and other cards like it are often touted as something that you can use to make online purchases while simultaneously presenting them at your favorite restaurants or stores.

The problem is, not everyone is willing to take them. Just because they’re backed by MasterCard doesn’t necessarily mean that you can use them to shop anywhere you want, as there are sometimes certain restrictions that are placed on the cards.

As a result, you often end up with cards that have money attached to them that may not serve your needs well. The question is, how do you get that money off the card and get it into your bank account?

Moving Funds from Emerald to Your Bank Account

Fortunately, It’s relatively easy to move funds from the card to your bank account. As previously mentioned, it’s a bit of a process in the sense that you either have to log on to the app that you’re using to manage your funds online from your smartphone or you have to travel to an ATM in order to get your money.

That said, the rest of the steps are fairly straightforward and they only take a few moments to complete. In order to keep things from getting too complicated, let’s assume that you have an app on your smartphone or that you are using your laptop to manage your account online. If that’s the case, you should have a bank account that’s also linked to your Emerald Card account.

If so, all you need to do is go into your account and transfer the funds from your card to the bank account that you have linked. If you don’t have a bank account that’s linked, then you will have to complete that step first.

What if you don’t use the app to manage your account online? Since the Emerald Card is a prepaid Mastercard, you can go to any ATM and get funds from your card. Keep in mind, you will end up being charged a fee for using most ATMs unless you’re using one that is associated with the bank that issued the card. In some cases, you might be lucky enough to find a no-fee ATM.

That said, there is still every chance that you will only be allowed to take a predetermined amount of money out of your Emerald Card account when using an ATM. This is done to prevent the ATM’s from running out of cash so quickly.

More often than not, the limit is approximately $300 per transaction. If you want to take out more than that, it would probably be better to transfer your funds using the app.

Of course, you can also ask for cash back at a store just like you would with your debit card. That being said, there are typically also limits associated with how much cash back you can request at any one single time. If you have more than $1,000 on your Emerald Card balance and you want to transfer all of it, your best bet is to manage your account online.

Using PayPal to Transfer Funds

There is one more thing that you might be able to do if you’re not happy with the solutions that have already been provided. If you have a PayPal account that is under the same name as the name on the account for your Emerald Card, you should be able to transfer the funds on your card to your Paypal account in full.

From there, it’s then possible to transfer the entire balance that was on the card from your PayPal account to your bank account with just a few taps on your smartphone.

It might seem like the most roundabout way to accomplish the goal, but it’s also an effective one if you can’t transfer the funds directly from your card to your bank account for one reason or another. It’s also a good idea if you want to keep part of the balance in your PayPal account to use for certain purchases and then move the remainder of it into your bank account.

Having a prepaid card that you may or may not want isn’t always the most convenient thing, but in this particular case, it’s possible to transfer the funds to your bank account or take the cash directly out of the account on your card through the use of an ATM.

The best thing about it is that regardless of whether you like the idea of using a prepaid card or not, it’s more secure than having a paper check mailed to you. At the end of the day, the Emerald Card offers you plenty of opportunities to decide how you want to manage those funds.