Wirecard's missing $2 billion

Fireflyaway

I opened a 'pockit' pre paid account. Only got my card yesterday. Received an email today stating all accounts frozen! Fortunately I only paid in £10 to test how it worked. So relieved I didn't put my salary in there! 

Kris35

I paid fifty quid on it yesterday and today I get the email saying it's frozen. I'm not expecting to get it back. 🤔

Stroopwafel

Got the Pockit email too and that's the first I knew of any of this going on. Signed up on here just now to have whinge I suppose.

Received my first Universal Credit payment on Monday into my Pockit account, no idea what's going to happen now. That account is the only financial product I have as I was struggling with ID to open a bank account so I don't know where next month's payment or future employment payment would go.]

Sounds worse than it could be, I have a highly unusual set of circumstances/ life story  so I'm not going to starve or anything like that but this is indeed a kick in the teeth. Was trying to get my life back on track after many years of it not being so. Pockit and UC until finding work for the first time in a long time was part of the plan.

Mumolulu

I have had a U account for about a year. I transfer over all my food and fuel budget every month (I have a family) and use it to pay for it. I’ve never had any issue and I’ve tried to use it this afternoon and it’s declined. I only transferred the money yesterday as it was payday. I was planning on my big food shop tomorrow. 

I have to have this money back! When this is over I’m closing the account, I can’t go through this again. It says the money is safe, my money is still in my account but I’m so worried I won’t get it back, or I won’t be able to access it for weeks 🤯 

epm-84

Stroopwafel said:

Received my first Universal Credit payment on Monday into my Pockit account, no idea what's going to happen now. That account is the only financial product I have as I was struggling with ID to open a bank account so I don't know where next month's payment or future employment payment would go.

Phone DWP or your Job Centre advisor and tell them of the situation.  They used to be able to post a Giro, which could be cashed at a Post Office if they weren't able to make payment to a bank account,  I don't know if they still offer that.

Presumably you've been unable to get any bank account, even a basic account with no overdraft option and which doesn't allow offline transactions to be made by card?

harsh_but_fair

e-money accounts are not fscs protected and therefore when you open and use one you are risking losing your balance. 

I am by and large risk-averse so personally would not use such products. Others seem to have a greater tolerance for risk.

jonnygee2

As an ex now retired auditor, I sadly have to agree with you!!

Even the auditors themselves seem to agree:

David Dunckley, chief executive of Grant Thornton, told MPs in January that it was not his firm’s job to uncover fraud. “We’re not looking for fraud, we’re not looking at the future, we’re not giving a statement that the accounts are correct,” Mr Dunckley said at the time.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/pwc-kpmg-deloitte-and-ey-audit-quality-failure-frc-report-a8998321.html

  

Stroopwafel

epm-84 said:

Stroopwafel said:

Received my first Universal Credit payment on Monday into my Pockit account, no idea what's going to happen now. That account is the only financial product I have as I was struggling with ID to open a bank account so I don't know where next month's payment or future employment payment would go.

Phone DWP or your Job Centre advisor and tell them of the situation.  They used to be able to post a Giro, which could be cashed at a Post Office if they weren't able to make payment to a bank account,  I don't know if they still offer that.

Presumably you've been unable to get any bank account, even a basic account with no overdraft option and which doesn't allow offline transactions to be made by card?

Thanks, I'll give them a ring.

I can't say I actually tried to get any other account, but I did do a fair bit of research when looking for an account and didn't believe that I'd meet the requirements. I suppose there's no harm in trying at this point. Pockit said they were able to verify me electronically satisfactorily enough to give me their higher liimit account, not sure exactly what that entailed. That's something DWP couldn't even do when I made the online application for UC, they gave me a phone interview in the end.

Suppose I might as well open up a little seeing as we're anonymous here. I'm in my early 40s and live with parents so no bills are in my name. They've been keeping me since the mid 2000s when I moved back in and I've neither worked nor claimed benefits in all that time. I don't have a passport or drivers licence and part of my life going haywire involved me shutting myself away from the world, not leaving the family home for many, many years. As a result I lost contact with any friends I  once had so have nobody to  ask to countersign a passport or provisional licence application to get some photo ID either. This all happened following a traumatic event in my life and I never sought any medical help at all for the way I was feeling, still haven't.  I completely fell through the cracks.

 I did have a bank account at one point but when I moved back in I neglected to inform the bank of a change address. Many months later my ex-landlord forwarded a letter to me from the bank saying I had gone overdrawn in an unauthorised way and that if I didn't settle the account within 2 weeks the account would be closed. I didn't receive the letter until those 2 weeks were already long gone. I suspect somebody was using the new card they'd sent to my old address, and because of my mental state at the time I didn't really care.

Blimey, this is is too much detail! You didn't need all this. Got to say it's somewhat therapeutic though, and there's a lot more I could type. I do feel ok now though, which is why I applied for UC. I feel like I'm ready to re-enter the normal world. Suppose Coranvirus was a wake up too, my parents are elderly so were/are more vulnerable so cannot rely on them forever.

Will give DWP a ring early next week and do some research over the weekend into any other accounts I might be able to open.

epm-84

Stroopwafel said:

epm-84 said:

Stroopwafel said:

Received my first Universal Credit payment on Monday into my Pockit account, no idea what's going to happen now. That account is the only financial product I have as I was struggling with ID to open a bank account so I don't know where next month's payment or future employment payment would go.

Phone DWP or your Job Centre advisor and tell them of the situation.  They used to be able to post a Giro, which could be cashed at a Post Office if they weren't able to make payment to a bank account,  I don't know if they still offer that.

Presumably you've been unable to get any bank account, even a basic account with no overdraft option and which doesn't allow offline transactions to be made by card?

Thanks, I'll give them a ring.

I can't say I actually tried to get any other account, but I did do a fair bit of research when looking for an account and didn't believe that I'd meet the requirements. I suppose there's no harm in trying at this point. Pockit said they were able to verify me electronically satisfactorily enough to give me their higher liimit account, not sure exactly what that entailed. That's something DWP couldn't even do when I made the online application for UC, they gave me a phone interview in the end.

If your UC claim has been confirmed and you've got a letter from them informing you the claim has been accepted then that can count as proof of ID but you would need something else to count as proof of address.  It might be some banks will accept a utility bill even if it's in your Dad's name, if they can confirm you are related to your Dad or that you live at the address.

https://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/customerservices/contactus/id-requirements

gt94sss2

Are you registered to vote? If not go to https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter and do so - that will also help organisations verify your identity

As for Basic Bank Accounts have a look at https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/basic-bank-accounts