Consumer complaint received 2024-11-17 00:00:00
Product: Prepaid card — Government benefit card
Issue: Trouble using the card — Trouble using the card to pay a bill
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I received my social security benefits direct deposited to my Netspend Card. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I went to pay my car insurance that was due to laspe on XX/XX/XXXX. My card declined and I went to the email that was sent to see if it has a fraud alert that I wasn't aware of. The notice only told me that there may be something wrong with my account and to contact customer service. When I called customer service I was told that there was a restriction on my account from a previous account with their institution. I advised them that I don't remember any other account and if they could please explain. The Customer Service Representative told me that she couldn't share that information but I had to pay {$82.00} in order for them to release my Social Security XXXX. When I demanded a Supervisor to get a better understanding, the Supervisor said that this was from an XXXX Account from XXXX and was closed in XXXX with a negative balance of {$82.00}. I have never recieved any information of this account. I banked with Netspend and have been receiving my Social Security Benefits from this card since XXXX. I have never had anyone speak to me about another account. I never received any notifications about another account or a negative balance. I asked about the account information and when was it placed in collections and was told in XXXX. I filed bankruptcy in XXXX and all charges were discharged in XX/XX/XXXX. I also questioned the negative balance because they were collecting on a debt by withholding my funds for an account from 13 years ago. In the state of GA, statue of limitations to take legal action in order to collect on a debt is 6 years. No one notified me about this debt. There were plenty of opportunities for me to pay this debt if I was made aware of the debt. 

I was told that I had to pay the debt in order to remove the restriction. No one asked me to provide the bankruptcy paperwork or number to check. I was told that I had to pay the balance of $ XXXX in order to get my entire account released which my balance at the time was {$1600.00}. I was on the phone with each representative and Supervisors for XXXX hours on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. The call ended with a XXXX saying that she would be forwarding an email to the Recovery Team to ask them to remove the block. She said it would take 24 hours. I then made another phone call to Customer service at XXXX Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX to check the status of my account because my card awas still blocked. My insurance company told me they would allow a grace until 2pm that day to make the payment. The Netspend Customer Service Rep and Managers all said I needed to pay the balance. So I agreed to pay the balance and was told that the restriction would be released that day. I advised that I needed it to be released by XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and she said I had to wait for it to be processed. I called back at XXXX on Saturday XX/XX/XXXX, and spoke with a XXXX that said that he would send a expedited request and that he would update me on the response. Another day passed and I called to speak with another manager on Sunday, XX/XX/XXXX and was told that the Recovery Department wasn't open on the weekends. This company is illegally holding on to my Social Security Funds. I am not able to pay my rent and now have accessed a late fee on my rent for {$120.00} on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX. I also will have to pay a reinstatement fee to reinstate my car insurance. My family and I have also not been able to eat and have had to borrow money to get food. I also have not been able to deliver on my XXXX XXXX  because XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, so with no insurance I cant recover from the hardship. I would like to bring charges against this company and a lawsuit to recover the fees from the domino affect of losses that occurred during this process. This company never notified me of any debt. Also the prepaid card that they were speaking about with the negative balance is from XXXX XXXX. I never received any correspondence or collection activity from them. The only notification was on XX/XX/XXXX when they restricted my account. 

This was the wrong time for my family and I to have another hardship. This has caused my Car Insurance to Laspe on both my car and my daughters car. Our bank XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX requires insurance on our cars and any day that we don't have insurance will cost us {$160.00} a day per car. Our insurance Lasped on XX/XX/XXXX Due to this action my children and I are facing eviction. This company needs to pay for the Hardship they caused

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