Prepaid Cards Guide Discussion Area

I took out a prepaid credit card from MasterCard in February 17. It cost £72 for the year, paid in monthly installments. I also had an overdraft facility ( £100). This cost me £10 per month. I paid a small amount in every month to cover these costs and a little surplus. But I always seemed to have to pay more in. I never used the account for this reason. I decided to close the account recently. The charges were £92.36 for the full years charges. They assured me the account was closed but refused to give written confirmation. I then discovered more charges have been added to my (closed)account. Another £35 for overdraft fees and subscription charges. How can I be sure that this account is closed especially as I have paid all fees? I'm a pensioner on a low income. I have written to MasterCard but have had no reply.

Yes it is with CASHPLUS

I have a Pockit Prepaid MasterCard which I got because they were offering £15 for a £10 topup during a promotion. I didn't need it but I couldn't resist the free money. The £15 balance was just sitting there and I needed a cheap payg mobile handset for travelling. Good old Carphone Warehouse had a deal for a sim free long life battery brick for £14.99 delivered. I thought I'll have one of them and bought it online and paid with the Pockit balance. Email followed with my order details etc. A few minutes later I get another email cancelling the order. No explanation just cancelled thanks very much. An 0870 number if I wanted to discuss it but other than that nothing. I was going to phone but then I thought I would try something. I placed the exact same order again, same name, address, email etc but I paid using my First Direct Visa card. Sure enough within minutes I got a despatch email, the handset will be with me tomorrow. Now all this might be a coincidence but if the original order was cancelled because I used a prepaid card it seems a bit tight on people who only have these types of card. I could understand if Carphone did this with a contract phone but this was just a sim free phone, not even Payg. I was just curious if anyone else had experienced this.

All fine until I attempted my first purchase online. I received an email saying that the transaction had been declined by my credit card company (Pockit). I contacted Pockit using the contact form on their website asking why the payment had been declined - and after seven days they replied via email. They said that the web site I placed my order on uses 3D Secure authentication - and Pockit are not yet enrolled into this scheme. As the 3D Secure box pops up briefly on several sites I order from, the Pockit card would be of little use to me, so I replied asking them to cancel my card and refund the money I had deposited on the card. They agreed and asked me for bank details. After I emailed bank details (as requested), I was surprised to receive an email asking me to send a photograph of my bank statement ensuring all four corners of the statement was visible. I was annoyed and said no at first but then I took a photograph covering my balance and transactions. I don't see that this card has much to offer and the customer service is poor.