Consumer complaint received 2016-11-15
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: TX
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: Mobile wallet
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing account

Complaint:
Netspend sent me an unsolicited prepaid debit card. Advising that everyone is guaranteed approval and advising of immediate access to the funds deposited to the card. I 'm a XXXX and my school refund was deposited to the card. I tried to activate the card and was advised that they needed to verify my identity by providing my ssn, address, dl #, dob and phone # which i gave. They adv. That i did not pass verification due to the address even though i gave the address where the card was sent. They Then requested a copy of my dl, ssn, a bill, which i sent.and had to wait 6 business hours for review i also sent my health and human svcs award letter and they advised that i still did not pass. I then sent my passport and waiting another 6 hours for review. They finally activate the card 2 days later at XXXX. And accepted the deposit and posted it to the account. However at XXXX the following morning They blocked the account and then closed the acct.stating they could not verify my identity. They advised that a check would be sent to me for the balance on the account and that i would have it in 3-5 business days. I contacted them on the 5th business day because i had still not received and they advised a check had been sent and that i would receive within 10 bus days not 5. I contacted them on the 10th bus days in which they again guaranteed the check had been mailed and that i would receive it the following day. I called the next day when i still had not received the check and they had me on hold for an hour when they finally transferred me to a supervisor in the fraud dept who advised no check was ever, sent and that the money would need to go back to. the school. She went on to say that the school ( XXXX college ) would need to send them a letter of indemnity both by email and postal mail and then they would send a check for the remaining balance, which is now being lowered by various fees applied after the account was closed, to the school and then the school would then have to send to me and i would need to contact my school. I contacted the school and advised of all of this and they advised that was incorrect and that netspend would need to use a check to me for the balance. And that netspend was illegally holding my money and for me to file a police report. Per the initial email from netspend prior to the card being activated netspend notified me of the pending deposit from my school and advised that if they could not verify my identify and activate the card within 24 hours that the deposit would be sent back to the school. Which at least If that had happened i would have gotten the payment from the school 2weeks ago and at least had the money to pay for my books. Instead they accepted the deposit activated the card sent me an email confirming they had verified my identity and charged me the account maintenance fee and other fees only to block the account the next morning and hold on to my money while depleting it with various fees even though the account is supposed to be closed

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation