Consumer complaint received 2021-02-24
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: WA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Sent card you never applied for

Complaint:
I received an unsolicited debit visa card in the mail on XX/XX/2021 with an " activate to use sticker '' & activation phone # and an account packet. After multiple calls to the # and to XXXX an automated reply sent me back to the XXXX XXXX Account activation # saying it was a NetSpend card. There were no options to speak to a representative to discuss the matter. The only option offered was to enter the card # and my last 4 of my SS # to activate the card. I did not want to provide them with my SS # or my associated phone # to try to talk to someone for fear that they would obtain further Identifying information and for fear that this was an identity theft scam. I could not contact the company in any way to speak to a person to inform them that a fraudulent account & card was opened in my name in order to ask them to immediately close the card & account. I called my insurance company & they connected me to their Identity Theft partner to assist me in this manner. The Representative found an email contact form on the website and sent them notice to immediately close the card account that was opened fraudulently in my name & left them an email & phone # to contact me. No reply was received by 24 hours. I was able to find the NetSpend on-line email contact form and sent a 2nd request for them to immediately close the card account ( providing the # and exp. date ) & asked them to send confirmation that this was done to the email I provided & to send a phone # so we could discuss this act & its mitigation with an actual person. I have included my request and their reply below ( sans any identifying information ). They did not provide a phone contact # or confirm they had closed the account. 
So far I have followed the advice of the CFPB, my ID theft partner company, my bank, filed a complaint and report for identity theft with the FTC and mailed the FTC letter/complaint to the Net Spend Corporation based in XXXX, TX. requesting closure of the account, removal of any charges from the unauthorized account and removal of information about this account from my credit files It has already taken 2 days, many calls, and many hours of documentation to try to rectify and report this as per the recommendations of the : FTC, CFPB, my bank, the ID Theft Company, and to create report and accounts to freeze my credit and provide alerts, etc. My request and reply to the company follows : >> Original Message ... 
>> From : XXXX XXXX To : XXXX XXXX Subject : New message on XXXX XXXX Sent : XX/XX/2021 XXXX A visitor on XXXX sent you a message : name : email : message : We are requesting that you immediately close card # xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-exp. xx/xx that was opened fraudulently & this card needs to be closed immediately. This is a 2nd request & we have not yet received a reply in more than 24 hours. Please send confirmation that this has been done to above email : ASAP & a phone number that we can discuss this fraudulent act & its mitigation with an actual person, please. 


On From : Netspend XXXX XXXX Date : Tue, XX/XX/2021, XXXX XXXX  Subject : Re : New message on XXXX XXXX XXXX ID : XXXX >> To : Account Number : XXXX Dear XXXX Thank you for contacting NetSpend! 
I am sorry to hear that you received an unordered card from us and I understand that you do not wish to receive future offers. 
I am writing to confirm that we are removing your name from our mail lists and you will no longer receive unsolicited direct mail from us. Please allow up to 30 days for complete removal. 
I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. 
Thank you for choosing NetSpend. Have a great day! 
XXXX Customer Service Agent The email does not confirm the immediate closure of the card account or a phone # to discuss. From their reply I can only conclude that they fraudulently opened an unsolicited ( " unordered '' ) credit card in my name. It is my understanding from speaking with a CFPB agent that an unsolicited card sent by a company is reportable as fraud to the CFPB as it is illegal to send unsolicited cards. From this email, it now appears this company sent this " unordered '' unsolicited card fraudulently opened in my name as an " offer '' and that my name will be removed from their mailing list for unsolicited " direct mail ''. It appears this was generated by the company and not solicited by someone acting in my name, but I will leave that to the authorities to decide.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation