Consumer complaint received 2019-01-23
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: NC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Unexpected or other fees

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX I received a NetSpend Card for my wedding gift. My brother purchased the card for me at a XXXX location and included a receipt stating it was {$100.00} on the card. A week later I went to activate the card and was told by a NetSpend customer service representative that I would have to give my social security number to them in order to activate the card. I told them that I've never been asked to provide my social security number to get access to a prepaid gift card. The representative told me if was company policy. I ended the call and stored the card away to figure out what was really required to activate the card. 

Recently, XX/XX/XXXX I called again to activate the card. I was asked again to provide my social security number. I told them I didn't feel comfortable with this as this is a gift card. The NetSpend representative then told me the card was actually bank/check card that only can be activated by opening up an account with them, hence the need for my social security number. I asked her to verify the amount on the card. The representative explained that there was {$100.00} loaded on the card back in XX/XX/XXXX but NetSpend has been charging me a monthly maintenance fee that they charge on all active accounts causing my current balance to be XXXX. 

I went back in forth with the representative to get a better explanation of what occurred. If by NetSpend 's policy I must open up a line of credit with them to activate an account and they charge a monthly maintenance fee for all active accounts, how was I charged a maintenance fee for an inactive account? 

I asked this question several times and was just told that is there policy. As of this date, Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I have not activated an account with them. My complaint is regarding NetSpend 's false advertisement. All prepaid gift cards I have received in the past were sincere gift cards that did not require me to open up a an account with them tied to my social security number. If this is a bank card and not a gift card, NetSpend must change their packaging/advertisement to reflect this. Additionally, because NetSpend is advertising themselves to be a pre-paid gift card, retailers like XXXX are stocking them near gift cards making it easy for a customer to mistake this NetSpend Card as such. There is no way for the customer to know this is a bank card unless they purchase it and open it up. There is no way of knowing about the monthly fees that are apparently activated as soon as the card is purchased until you purchase the card. 

My last complaint is regarding the monthly maintenance fee charged on activated accounts that was charged to an inactive account. My brother spent {$100.00} on a card that was completed absorbed by NetSpend. Their current policies basically is a trap to take consumer 's money.

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