Unison Prepay plus card

tomac

I have recently got hold of a Unison Prepay Plus card. (I'm not allowed to post links, but the URL is unison prepaid dot com )

I applied for it since it was easy, doesn't cost anything and doesn't hit my credit file, just to see if it is useful really. Among various benefits, it claims to give discounts for purchases of various high street retailer gift vouchers, eg 5% off Asda or Sainsburys vouchers, 10% off Debenhams vouchers, and a few other clothes shops, restaurant chains, and homeware shops.

However, there is a 95p/month management fee deducted from the card every month, and the benefits cease to work if you fail to have enough balance on the card for the 95p to be taken off.

I am trying to work out if it is possible for me to pay the 95p once, get enough vouchers for various places to make it worth paying the 95p, then never pay it again.

However, when I log into the website and click "Access Discounts", I get:

Sorry, we are still in the process of activating your access to discounts. Please try again in a day or so. Thank you for your patience

Not sure if this is because I haven't had 95p taken off yet though.

Just wondered if anyone else has tried this, and what the results were!!

canny_customer

I have just got the Unison details and at first glance I was very interested. However, the benefits such as dental, travel etc apply only for twelve months. I thought at first this card would give 5% discount on all ASDA purchases but I don't think this is so. Anyone got experience of this card?

tomac

To be honest, in the end it turned out to be a complete waste of time and money. I could never get the discounts bit to work - I always just got an error. I tried to sort it out via the helpdesk but got no-where. So in the end I decided it was not worth the effort, and binned it.

Jemma-T

Rather disgusting that a union is jumping into bed with disgusting banks who robbed their members.

Get a bank card which really is just that.

sooty40_2

Just read some old posts re Unison Pre Paid Card.
Have had mine for over 2 years and now want to get rid as it is a waste of time.Pay 95p/month just to keep it running and it has lots of charges for almost everything.I now read that it will cost £10 to " redeem " which just means to cancel it and get my money returned.
The Site is terrible you cannot access anything on it after you log in it says cannot load funds due to site prob but it has said that for over a year, it sends me emails but on the site it says I have no email address listed and when I try to update it asks for stupid information with no boxes to enter it aaarrrgh..........
Also supposed to come with lots of benefits but again when you try to access the benefits area it says site maintenance or similar and there is no way to find the benefits. After 2 years I have had no discounts and have paid fees each month there is no interest and lots of sites and outlets don't recognise the card. Complete waste of money.:(

allybee101

Oh dear, I've just searched for Unison Prepaid card on the forums as I had a few issues with mine at the weekend and wanted to see if there was any advice as the phoneline was closed.
This isn't a glowing thread of praise!


I've not long had mine and having finally managed to set up a direct debit over the phone to load money on, I tried to use it on Sunday to buy my groceries. It got refused - but didn't come up with a reason why. Had to use my debit card which is perilously close to the overdraft limit.
Rang the helpline this lunchtime and was informed it takes 4 working days for the funds to clear.
They only allow DDs to be set up for the 1st of the month, so I can't time it to come out when I get paid on the 20th.

So now I need to watch my account and check money goes in today otherwise I want to know where my £100 has gone!
On the plus side it appears that you can now load funds online which is good.

The Discounts site is also working.

I will persevere, and update if any progress - good or bad!

alanq

allybee101 wrote: »

I will persevere, and update if any progress - good or bad!

Sadly, a year and a half later, no update.

I did briefly consider getting one of those cards. However, the current web page has no information about exactly what the benefits are. Cash back "between 3% and 6%" . Partners are named but what rewards are earned on what where? With what restrictions? It all seemed suspiciously vague.

It seems only the restricted card is free. A £5 fee and posting identity documents is required for an unrestricted card. Surely in most cases it should be possible to perform identity checks electronically and paper documents should only be required as a last resort.

Oh, and the monthly fee is now £1.95! With all the uncertainty about the benefits forget it.

http://www.unisonprepaid.com/home