Major problems with prepaid credit card provider

Aristotle67

benoit wrote: »

Silly question but would there happen to be a maximum limit you are allowed to load onto a pre paid card in a day/week? Could that have something to do with this do you think?

It's not a silly question at all and raises a genuine point. However, the balance was allowed to accrue on the secondary card and, to my knowledge, there was no contact from the card issuer explaining that there was a limit that had been reached or that no more could be withdrawn to it. They did not seem to have an issue with a large balance.

The only reason that this problem has arisen is because the card issuer has upgraded their cards to Mastercards, with the result that the currently active Maestro cards will become invalid in the near future. Therefore, something had to be done with the existing balance. The cardholder said it could be transferred to the new primary Mastercard. It was when I tried to do this that the present situation came about.

Can a bank really get away with using the line "we cannot discuss the account with you at present"? It isn't their money, after all, and has been accumulated legitimately. A paper trail is avilable accounting for every penny. Myself and the secondary cardholder feel we have a right to know exactly what the problem is and where the funds are at present; but the card issuer will not talk to us.

jonesMUFCforever

omen666 wrote: »

This!

you dont half post some !!!! posts sometime without foundation

Read OP's first post.
It is typical behaviour of a money launderer - even if he isn't.
He will have a lot of explaining to do.
No normal person has activity like this without having something to hide.

Aristotle67

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

No normal person has activity like this without having something to hide.

I guess that must mean I am abnormal! Oh, well; I can live with that!

jonesMUFCforever

Aristotle67 wrote: »

I guess that must mean I am abnormal! Oh, well; I can live with that!

As long as you get your story straight - even as we speak you will be investigated.
Everything available to the authorities will be looked at including payments to 3rd parties from your card.

sharpy2010

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

As long as you get your story straight - even as we speak you will be investigated.
Everything available to the authorities will be looked at including payments to 3rd parties from your card.

But so what?

The OP has clearly stated there was no fraud, and that they have been lucky with gambling... This does happen, believe it or not.

Why you have to make such rude posts is beyond me. It's almost as if you are gloating (with no actual reason to be doing so).

omen666

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Read OP's first post.
It is typical behaviour of a money launderer - even if he isn't.
He will have a lot of explaining to do.
No normal person has activity like this without having something to hide.

Again no foundation from you. As it is over 10k any financial institution regulated by the FSA has a duty to notify authorities for all transactions over 10k. As long as he can explain where it has come from and has the proof he can have his money in minutes on the basis the authorities have been called in. It is never impounded and then a lot of hassle to get it back. It is !!!! easy to keep it if the authorities get involved and you can prove where it is from.

benoit

Aristotle67 wrote: »

It's not a silly question at all and raises a genuine point. However, the balance was allowed to accrue on the secondary card and, to my knowledge, there was no contact from the card issuer explaining that there was a limit that had been reached or that no more could be withdrawn to it. They did not seem to have an issue with a large balance.

The only reason that this problem has arisen is because the card issuer has upgraded their cards to Mastercards, with the result that the currently active Maestro cards will become invalid in the near future. Therefore, something had to be done with the existing balance. The cardholder said it could be transferred to the new primary Mastercard. It was when I tried to do this that the present situation came about.

Can a bank really get away with using the line "we cannot discuss the account with you at present"? It isn't their money, after all, and has been accumulated legitimately. A paper trail is avilable accounting for every penny. Myself and the secondary cardholder feel we have a right to know exactly what the problem is and where the funds are at present; but the card issuer will not talk to us.

I can see where you are coming from, it does seem a bit odd to tell the account holder they can't discuss the account with them but not actually cite a reason. Even if it was being investigated for some reason surely they can at the very least tell you that?

Another thought i had was are there certain rules regarding the use of these cards that you may have fallen foul of? Do they have certain things that you are not allowed to use them for? I've never had pre paid cards so i don't really know the rules regarding the use of them.

Aristotle67

Once again, thanks to all who have taken time to comment in the thread. Much appreciated.

As long as you get your story straight - even as we speak you will be investigated.
Everything available to the authorities will be looked at including payments to 3rd parties from your card.

There is no story to get straight. The statements of the primary and secondary cardholder detail clearly all transactions made, both deposits and withdrawals. Even a cursory glance a these will show how the funds were accumulated and demonstrate that nothing untoward has taken place. The secondary cardholder and I are quite happy for this to take place. It would be nice to be informed that this is what is happening, however; we could sit back, allow any investigation to run its course, and rest easy. Not knowing what is happening as the card issuer will not talk to us is what we find unacceptable.

The OP has clearly stated there was no fraud, and that they have been lucky with gambling... This does happen, believe it or not.

The secondary cardholder couldn't believe it at the time, as they don't think of themselves as being a lucky person. But it happened!

As it is over 10k any financial institution regulated by the FSA has a duty to notify authorities for all transactions over 10k. As long as he can explain where it has come from and has the proof he can have his money in minutes on the basis the authorities have been called in. It is never impounded and then a lot of hassle to get it back. It is !!!! easy to keep it if the authorities get involved and you can prove where it is from.

These words are quite reassuring. Thank you!

Another thought i had was are there certain rules regarding the use of these cards that you may have fallen foul of? Do they have certain things that you are not allowed to use them for?

No, I do not believe so. But even if this was the case, surely this issue would have been identified much earlier, i.e. if the secondary cardholder attempted to make a deposit or withdrawal which was prohibited?

As I emphasised previously, the point when the present situation occurred was when I tried to transfer the balance, following the suggestion of the card issuer, from the secondary to the new, upgraded primary Mastercard. If this forced upgrade had not taken place, I do not think the current problem would have arisen. The funds on the secondary Maestro could have been used and accessed in other ways, I am sure. But with the secondary Maestro about to become inactive, something had to be done about removing the balance from the card; and as I acted in accordance with the guidance of the card issuer, I do not think this is a situation of my or the secondary cardholder's making. I also feel very strongly that all parties concerned have a right to be informed of what precisely is going on.

jonesMUFCforever

omen666 wrote: »

Again no foundation from you. As it is over 10k any financial institution regulated by the FSA has a duty to notify authorities for all transactions over 10k. As long as he can explain where it has come from and has the proof he can have his money in minutes on the basis the authorities have been called in. It is never impounded and then a lot of hassle to get it back. It is !!!! easy to keep it if the authorities get involved and you can prove where it is from.

Where did I say his money was impounded?
If there was no investigation he would have access to his funds - he hasn't - what do you put this down to?
As long as he has proof where the money has come from - yes but this will take time - they won't ask him until their investigation is complete.

jonesMUFCforever

benoit wrote: »

I can see where you are coming from, it does seem a bit odd to tell the account holder they can't discuss the account with them but not actually cite a reason. Even if it was being investigated for some reason surely they can at the very least tell you that?

Another thought i had was are there certain rules regarding the use of these cards that you may have fallen foul of? Do they have certain things that you are not allowed to use them for? I've never had pre paid cards so i don't really know the rules regarding the use of them.

You are not allowed to tip off anybody that there is an investigation going on - if you do you can be heavily fined or even imprisoned.