I read this morning (switter) that a provider could not pay her utility bill because her cc no longer worked.  Apparently she used that cc to pay for a SW ad, and the government shut the cc down.  I do not know if this is true, but it may be concerning to some.

Heads up and be safe.

Theresa list of friendly and not so friendly entities already

when i buy online i use to use prepaid credits cards, you don't need to configurate the account with real info.

To pay for all hobby related memberships going forward.  I've heard from multiple sources of providers having their credit cards canceled for paying for ads on E...s, and even using debit cards for pea four eleven.  These will have adverse effects on credit scores in addition to the loss of credit lines.  The latter implies risks to hobbyists as well, so best to now use prepaid cards when dealing with the banking system wherever possible for hobbying purposes.      

Starting a few years ago, financial and homeland security regs made it more difficult to transfer money overseas so almost all prepaids will not process payments to Europe (TER). I don't know if Canada (P411) is considered an Intl payment for banking purposes. (For 3rd Grade Geography, Canada is international.)

Why does it seem to me like this is a game of whack-a-mole? LE shuts down various options: publishing, advertising, communications, banking, paying ... Soon after, people come up with work-arounds. (E.g., bitcoin.)  
.
In the case of porn, many Americans had no interest until the Supreme Court was threatening to shut down Deep Throat and it made headlines from coast to coast. Meanwhile, the lines to see Deep Throat at the movie theaters stretched around the block! There were stories of people standing in line dressed in the symphony and opera finery and teenagers sneaking in to see what the buzz was all about.  
.
My activities didn't pick up until I read about TER in a major NY Times article about LE cracking down on prostitution. (Thank you, NYT for reporting it!)  
.
Maybe these DAs and Congressmen should leave things alone and move towards legalization or decriminalization ... or they will increase demand for each bit of forbidden fruit.

Can anyone recommend a good prepaid card for hobbying purposes (like sub fees and such)? I mean, is the prepaid Visa from the Vons checkout line good enough? I've seen reloadable debit cards (with a MC or Visa logo on it), but they usually have a monthly fee.

From the US, you can't use PrePaid CCs for international payments. So forget about using any PP CC (Visa, MC, ... Green Dot CCs no longer exist) for paying TER, etc..  
.
For domestic services, be careful and be aware of PrePaid CC and PrePaid GC scams. The scammers scan code numbers from as yet unsold cards in the stores (or BEFORE they even hit the stores), and their computers keep checking the accounts for activation and loading. Then they swoop in and take the money. Hard to trace.
.
It has been posted here that PayPal GIFT Cards are different. They can only be "cashed" into a registered PP account which is connected to a legit bank account and real ID so PP GC is harder to scam. Whereas regular PP payments can be seized by PP for violation of terms of service, a PP GC is bought for cash and deposited to the recipients PP account for their use. It could be purchased by the PP account holder herself for her own use; it could be a birthday GC; who knows? So PP GC is supposed to be safer under any circumstance.
.
Please wait for some other comments before rushing out to buy a PP GC.

Big mistake on my part: Green Dot DOES still exist but you can't use Green Dot to make payments or transfer US Dollars overseas. If you are already traveling overseas, I think that you can use Green Dot to make local purchases and payments.