Consumer complaint received 2025-12-09 00:00:00
Product: Prepaid card — General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Problem getting a card or closing an account — Trouble getting a working replacement card
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
b'I am in possession of XXXX XXXX gift card given to me by my employer in XXXX XXXX, expiring XXXX XXXX   The back of the Visa Debit Card states:\n\nFor Account access or customer service please visit XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXn\nThis reward card is part of a reward, incentive, or loyalty program and is issued by Fifth Third, N.A., Bank pursuant to a license by Visa U.S.A, Inc. Use of this card constitutes your agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions governing this card and any other related agreements that may be amended. Not redeemable for Cash. This Card expires on the "Valid Thru date on the front of the card, but funds do not expire. Expired cards will be replaced upon request, less applicable fees. Monthly maintenance fee of XXXX is waived until the Valid Thru date.\n\nIve made multiple attempts to resolve this with Fifth Third and once with Visa (who sent me back to Fifth Third call queue)\n\nIMPORTANT: Neither rewardcardservices.com nor XXXX XXXX XXXX are in operation. So I googled the general Fifth Third CS number, which is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX GAVE THEM THE DETAILS\n - Provided by 5/3 CS rep XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX We can e-gift certificates\n - Its _Staples_\n - Visa card cant be handled by them - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  They cannot service gift cards\n - Need to walk into a branch\n - Advised they dont operate in NY\n - Main branch in Cincinnati: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - Called 9 times throughout the day, calls all ended with call again later and disconnected when no reps available\n\nXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  same drill, eventually disconnected\n\nScheduled a call to me via Fifth Third website\n\nCall from 5/3 Cincinnati branch\n - This is my 15th time on the phone for this\n - XXXX XXXX XXXX called me, hed never heard of that and would need to chat to back office staff on how to handle\n - Gave him last four of card XXXX, did not discuss value or any language/numberrs on the back of the card\n\nGot the follow-up call:\n - Once the card expires those funds are forfeit\n - I explained and read from the back of the card re funds not expiring\n - We never even used Visa\n - He advised it may be fraudulent (but never asked for the full card number)\n - I decided to call Visa\n\nXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Provided card number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Explained situation, then she said she would transfer me to Fifth Third Card Services\n\n[XFER to Fifth Third, same phone tree as with the 5/3 CS phone tree]\n - XXXX XXXX - I explained the situation and timeline\n - She attempted to pull up the account until we were 12 minutes into the call\n - She asked me to describe the card, which I did\n - She asked if there was a phone number on the back; I provided the phone number from the card, explained it wasnt in service\n - {HOLD}\n - She said, We dont have an access on our end and asked me how we got this, and I advised it was a gift in a holiday card.\n - Contact a branch or Contact the last company (my former employer) for resolution\n - I explained the situation, AGAIN rattled off this entire history herein, and that CFPB is the next step'

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief