I have been a holder of a Green Dot card (three, as a matter of fact) for a couple of years now, and I found them to be useful for the purposes for which they were intended. I generally used the card on a regular basis, routinely loading amounts up to and incuding the $500 limit (I see that newer cards have a $2500 limit now). I did this so often that I have not had to pay the monthly maintenance fee for my account.
Now to the problem: I have been using my card no more, and no less that I generally do. I and my children are staying in a hotel. We have been here for over a week, and we have continued this pattern for the entire summer, so no change of habit or usage here. This morning was intended to be checkout day, and we decided to extend. Mind you, this has been habit for us, as well, so no surprises for us here, either. I had my mother pick up a reload card, and add $200 to my card. I then called the front desk to have them extend our stay. Two minutes later, the front desk personnel called me back, stating that my card had been declined. I immediately pulled up my account, noting the balance of $218.24. I asked how much she was charging, and she told me $126.00... The usual amount.
I hung up with her, and proceeded to investigate futher. Upon looking at the transaction history, I expanded the view of the declined transactions the hotel had been attempting. What I noticed was that the reason for the decline was noted as, "CARD IS CLOSED AND CAN NOT BE USED." Mind you, I have used the card every day, and I used the card yesterday evening to order takeout, so I knew I had not closed my own card account. Additionally, I had just successfully reloaded the card not 15 mins early. I called the useless numbers incessantly, unable to get a live person, and receiving the message that the card had been blocked.
I called my mother, letting her know I couldn't get through, knowing that two heads are better than one; and each one of us proceeded to find alternative means of contacting these individuals. She eventually called me back, and told me she had been able to contact someone by attempting to process a failed reload, and getting patched through to an operator. She said that there had been some type of security breach on my account, and that she had been given another number to call. Low and behold, it was the same useless number I had been attempting to call. After calling back via the faulty reload procedure, I was shocked and angered to hear the the reason my card was closed was because of the high number of reloads! Reloads? Isn't this the purpose for the card? And how is it all of a sudden considered "high" when I've been using the same card in the same manner for years? And if the card was closed, why was the reload accepted?
Two things that I noted that led me down the path of a class-action lawsuit:
(1) Green Dot implemented a policy in July that any card receiving more then $1,000 in reloads in a given month, or processing more than 30 transactions in a given month, would be subject to a waiver of the monthly fee. This is clearly a bad-faith transaction, as they are advertising to their consumers that they WANT them to load large amounts on their card, and there appears to be a clear pattern of closing the accounts of anyone who takes the bait!
And
(2) The Cardholder Agreement clearly states that Green Dot has the right to close any card for any reason at any time. It goes further to state, "You will not be able to add more value to your Card once the Card has expired if we do not issue you a new Card or if your Card is closed, either by us or by you." That, ladies and gentlemen, is "WILL not", not "MAY not". You WILL not be able to load more funds onto the card if the card is closed. If that is true, then why was my $200 reload accepted?
I was told by the police department to file a report, and they would forward it to the appropriate police department. I was also told that I can file suit against them without having their exact address (which the intentionally hide), and I have every intention of doing so. I don't need a class-action to satisfy me, but I wouldn't mind sending that message to these crooks. If anyone else is interested, let me know.
Warning to all... Do NOT use these cards. If you do, buyer beware... You may never see your funds again!
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