Even in Death, the Kardashian Kard Lives On

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My eldest daughter was 12 years and herr cousin was 11 when I purchased a card for each of them at the cost of $12.95 per card. I loaded each of them with $20 each. I additionally purchased two reloads for them at $4.95 each with $20 on each of them as a surprise after they wasted away the first $20.
The purchases were made at our local national chain grocery store. Upon purchase you discover that they do not do refunds on pre-paid cards and you will have to deal directly with the vendor. No problem. I've used prepaid cards in the past and have had no issues.
When I got home, eager to activate them and present them with their gift for such great grades they had gotten (straight As, a big feat for her cousin because she had received primarily Bs & Cs), I discovered they had to be 13 years of age. I read the entire package when I purchased them. There is nothing on the package's requirements and disclosure statement that stated they had to be 13 years of age to use it. THAT disclosure is on the inside of the package.
So, I contacted the company to find out if I could get a refund so I could apply the funds to something they could use. I was told I could get a refund by activating the card and withdrawing the funds. They keep the $35.80 that I paid for the cards AND the $3.00 for withdrawing the funds. Out of the $115.80 I spent for them I would get back $77.00.
The representative suggested I wait until my daughter turned 13 to activate them. I took this advise and instead of giving the girls the cards I took them shopping.
Today my daughter is 13. I wanted to present her with her very first personal credit card. My first phone call to the telephone number on the card was transferred to another company because the gentleman I spoke to stated they no longer work with the Myplash cards.
The number he sent me to asked me for my card number. After putting in one of the two card numbers, the automated voice stated that they were unable to complete my request and hung up on me.
I called back the original number AGAIN and this time they gave me the telephone number. I called, letting it go through to a representative this time by not pressing anything. I was told by this representative that they do not work with the Myplash cards (even though while I was waiting, their holding service advertised the Myplash card and suggested for faster service to go to the website).
I called the original company again. I was told the same thing AGAIN but given a different number. OH WHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE WE HAVE!
I called the new telephone number to be told that they do not work with the Myplash cards, either. When I finally suggested I just report them to the BBB he found my card number and said they had applied the monthly fee, which brought the balance to 0.
I asked about the refills. She stated those would have had a monthly fee, as well. I said, "Thank you for your time. My next call will be to the BBB and my attorney."

Amy Reynolds of IL 1:36AM January 12, 2011

Disclosure: my company manages the UPside Visa prepaid cards, including a version for teens available at www.UPsideVisa.com where parents have the choice of getting a card with no activation fee, no monthly fee and no load fee from their own checking accounts.
If the very parents who take up our teen cards have checking accounts, why would they not open one of their kids instead of signing them up for a prepaid card?
The answer is simple: except for Wells Fargo and maybe a couple of other banks which have dedicated teen checking accounts, all other banks will force parents to share with their teens the username and password for the management of the account.
This is because regular checking accounts offer a single online access.
So if parents want to start transferring financial responsibility over to their teens, good luck.
By contrast, teen prepaid cards like the one we distribute have a dual access:
- one of the parent, with their own website and privileges (including that of suspending card privileges)
- one for the teen, through a separate website, with less privileges than the parent.
At most a handful of banks offer that feature on checking accounts. That's a handful out of 6,000+ banks in the US. So I have my maths wrong: 99.992% of banks do not offer suitable checking accounts for teens.
No matter what the price.

Patrice Peyret of NY 3:08PM December 18, 2010

OK great idea instead of paying 4.95 per month for a debit card let's all get our teens bank accounts for 8.95 per month. Now there's a lesson in financial responsibility-how to spend more on something just because the ignorant experts that write these columns think banks are superior. I think I would rather my kids card be declined for 1.00 rather than a overdraft fee of 35.00. Adults can't get the hang of how the banking world works and this guy thinks because the training wheels are off the kids will get it right away!!
Another not so well written article by another 'IGNORANT EXPERT"!!
Congratulations keep up the good work-this country is sliding downhill anyway and you are certainly helping with the push!

Judy Jensen of IA 9:32PM December 17, 2010