Consumer complaint received 2018-01-22
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX the following two charges were taken from my pre-paid Net Spend debit card. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CA {$19.00} - {$13.00} XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CA {$19.00} {$6.00} I have never heard of this company nor had I purchased anything that would fit those amounts. I have had some computer issues so I did not see these until several days after they were posted. I was upset because the second charge resulted in an overdraft situation in my account. When I saw them I called the number listed with the charge. I spoke to the man who answered the phone. He did say the name of the company ( not XXXX ) so I asked him if XXXX was part of that company. He said that XXXX had gone out of business in XXXX and that he had no idea who was using that name to make charges. He said that he would give me the number of someone who might be able to help me. I called that number and spoke with a woman who, as soon as I mentioned XXXX and why I was calling, answered with her voice shaking. She repeated several times that she did n't know anything about what happened to XXXX or how I could contact them. I called the original number back and just got a recording, with no mention of XXXX. I then contacted the Net Spend Customer Service and spoke to one of the agents. I explained why I was calling and said I wanted to have these charges removed, as they were fraudulent. He took the information to start a claim. Having said that, I have been dealing with Net Spend for more than three years. I have had more than one claim started with their customer service department and, when I call to check the status a week or two later, there was no claim started. I have a list of incidents where I am totally amazed that they can stay in business. I have records of all of those and, if necessary, would be happy to send them to you. There is actually one that I will be filing another complaint to you for more than {$200.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX there was another payment of {$19.00} taken for XXXX and again on XX/XX/XXXX. This time I initiated a claim online on XX/XX/XXXX. Net Spend usually takes at least a month to investigate any claim and I have waited longer than that. To my surprise, I received a notification on XX/XX/XXXX that the investigation did not find any error in the transaction so the company would be keeping my money. I did ask if the fact that I never heard of the company and have nothing that I could have gotten from the company since I do not know what they sell was taken into consideration. I have not gotten an answer to that question. I also requested the paperwork of the investigation which I was informed today would take about ten days. That is four days longer than it took for them to decide I was not getting my money back. I am XXXX years old and on a very limited income so the amount close to {$80.00} will cause a burden to me. I have told Net Spend this more than once but it makes no difference. The vendor is always right ... not their client.

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