WARNING! Virgin Prepaid MasterCard
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Oyster_card
Posts: 5 Forumite
in Credit cards
I recently applied for the new Virgin Pay As You Go Prepaid MasterCard.
It cost £9.95 and I went through with the purchase online using my Barclaycard and 'verified by visa service'.
The new, shiny red card came through the post pretty quickly together with information regarding how to add funds to the card along with Virgin Extras and discounts that could be obtained by using the card.
It was just what I wanted - an extra card that I could use shopping online, instead of using my Barclaycard and Capital One.
And subscribing to sites like Credit Expert (Experian), which require a monthly recurring membership which with using this card I could subscribe for a month or two, then not subscribe for several months and the money would not be taken out month after month - unless it had the funds on it.
This card also allowed me to be in control of the spending power on it and works pretty like a debit card. You can only spend what you have put onto the card.
And what with it being a MasterCard - it could be used anywhere. Fantastic??
About a week ago, I received an email alert from 1 of the Credit Reference Agencies that I have a paying subscription with.
The email said that there had been a recent search of my credit file.
When I checked with the Credit Reference Agency it showed a Search Footprint on my file carried out by the issuers of the Virgin Pay As You Go Prepaid MasterCard.
Also, the Search Purpose type was titled MONEY LAUNDERING.
I asked the Credit Reference Agency if this horribly named search entry could be seen by my current lenders or prospective future ones offering credit, to which the answer was yes - Any lender searching my credit file can see the entry because it was done as a credit search.
I asked them to remove the entry stating that I did not apply for credit and did not want it on my credit file. They refused!
It was under the impression that this type of Prepaid card or any type of Prepaid card come with no credit checks?
As Virgin state on their website ''Unlike credit cards, a Pay As You Go Card application isn't dependent on credit checks''
I have had quite a few searches for credit on my file during the last 6 months which I feel is quite enough.
If I had known that they were going to do this search of my credit file, then I would not have purchased their card in the first place.
I would strongly advise that any person thinking of purchasing this card from the Virgin money website to check beforehand whether a search of their credit file will be made.
Virgin are quite right in the fact that this card gives you loads of Virgin discounts and extras.
................Yes. HIDDEN EXTRAS!
It cost £9.95 and I went through with the purchase online using my Barclaycard and 'verified by visa service'.
The new, shiny red card came through the post pretty quickly together with information regarding how to add funds to the card along with Virgin Extras and discounts that could be obtained by using the card.
It was just what I wanted - an extra card that I could use shopping online, instead of using my Barclaycard and Capital One.
And subscribing to sites like Credit Expert (Experian), which require a monthly recurring membership which with using this card I could subscribe for a month or two, then not subscribe for several months and the money would not be taken out month after month - unless it had the funds on it.
This card also allowed me to be in control of the spending power on it and works pretty like a debit card. You can only spend what you have put onto the card.
And what with it being a MasterCard - it could be used anywhere. Fantastic??
About a week ago, I received an email alert from 1 of the Credit Reference Agencies that I have a paying subscription with.
The email said that there had been a recent search of my credit file.
When I checked with the Credit Reference Agency it showed a Search Footprint on my file carried out by the issuers of the Virgin Pay As You Go Prepaid MasterCard.
Also, the Search Purpose type was titled MONEY LAUNDERING.
I asked the Credit Reference Agency if this horribly named search entry could be seen by my current lenders or prospective future ones offering credit, to which the answer was yes - Any lender searching my credit file can see the entry because it was done as a credit search.
I asked them to remove the entry stating that I did not apply for credit and did not want it on my credit file. They refused!
It was under the impression that this type of Prepaid card or any type of Prepaid card come with no credit checks?
As Virgin state on their website ''Unlike credit cards, a Pay As You Go Card application isn't dependent on credit checks''
I have had quite a few searches for credit on my file during the last 6 months which I feel is quite enough.
If I had known that they were going to do this search of my credit file, then I would not have purchased their card in the first place.
I would strongly advise that any person thinking of purchasing this card from the Virgin money website to check beforehand whether a search of their credit file will be made.
Virgin are quite right in the fact that this card gives you loads of Virgin discounts and extras.
................Yes. HIDDEN EXTRAS!
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Comments
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I think its vaguely connected to money laundering in the sense that you can load cash onto it etc and then spend it legitimately on websites etc, as i understand it all searches dissappear after 3-6 months anyway, i guess its a red flag to lenders since one may wonder why you need the prepaid card if you have a perfect credit file and can access traditional credit methods that are cheaper to use.0
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Treadstone, which a user name like that, I'm surprised that you don't see the importance to which the OP points out: he is being tracked for a criminal offence which he has no knowledge of!:rotfl:
In all seriousness, I live on a council estate where the majority have poor credit ratings. I, myself, still cannot get credit/debit cards after my uni days when I became seriously ill and lived off cheques I knew where going to bounce to survive. Before the Moral Police, flash their lights and try to pull me over, I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE. If you are a student who has recieved a loan, it is counted as income and makes you ineligable for state benefits. They told me to come back in 26 weeks if I was still ill..... But that's another story.
I have been looking into these PAYG Mastercard/VIsa cards for sometime now and with the massive growth in internet availability, those with poor credit ratings and no credit/debts cards feel left out. I'm fortunate enough to have friends and family to help me out (my credit is very good with them!), but nevertheless one doesn't like asking. As I sell on Ebay, PayPal has been a godsend and I use that the vast majority of time to workaround my own problems.
I have been thinking of getting a PAYG CC and even though the extra charges are excessive (when are they not?!?), a couple of quid extra to use one is worth the loss of the hassle. I found one that you can buy over the counter, but even then you have to register it before you can use it online. Some sites that claim you can pay via PayPal also want you to register a credit card with them - !!!!!!? Understand now!
I've refused to pay either the banks (who wouldn't extend my overdraft) or the Student Loan Company and now it's been over 6 years..... !!!! One of my favourite authors is Robert Ludlum and I have been a big fan of Jason Bourne for many, many years. He would have been proud of the way I've managed to evade my unwarranted debts. I lost my degree (I had to ultimately abandon my degree after many years of hard study to finally get HB & IS) and credit-worthiness, but I wasn't prepared to pay for it as well! :eek:
Ironically, because of no credit given, I am also now debt-free and don't owe anyone a penny. PAYG Mastercards/Visa cards ain't going to change that for me. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend 6 hours sharpening my axe0 -
A money laundering search will have checked to see if you're on the voters roll, but not done a credit search. It won't be visible to other lenders. Banks and other companies use them as an ID check to pass the anti money laundering legislation, so that you wouldn't have to post in proof of ID. Believe me, if you were being covertly investigated you wouldn't know about it.0
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A money laundering search will have checked to see if you're on the voters roll, but not done a credit search. It won't be visible to other lenders. Banks and other companies use them as an ID check to pass the anti money laundering legislation, so that you wouldn't have to post in proof of ID. Believe me, if you were being covertly investigated you wouldn't know about it.
Your telling me that information stored on Experian etc is not available to other organisations? If the OP can get access to the information it is stored. Data Protection Act notwithstanding. I used to work for a large building society processing loans and the information I could access on applicants 6 years ago would shock the unwise. What's it like now, I don't know but I hazard a guess that even more information is freely available. You don't need a PHD to get someone else's credit history. Identity fraud continues to grow because it's relatively easy to say you're someone else. If the OP can get information on his credit file, so can others including creditors. SIMPLE. To say anything else is, imho, naive.
Unless you were paranoid and loaded, I agree with you that wouldn't spot covert investigation. But if I bought loads of PAYG CC and they appeared on my credit file as a possible money launderer, I would assume that someone would be taking an interest in me and my finances.
BIG UP the OP for sharing this information with us!If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend 6 hours sharpening my axe0 -
A money laundering search will have checked to see if you're on the voters roll, but not done a credit search. It won't be visible to other lenders. Banks and other companies use them as an ID check to pass the anti money laundering legislation, so that you wouldn't have to post in proof of ID. Believe me, if you were being covertly investigated you wouldn't know about it.
A credit search is a search carried out for lending purposes.
An enquiry is carried out for other non-credit purposes, such as employee vetting, tenant vetting and Electoral Roll checks (not related to credit applications).
This search entry is registered on my file as a search and not an enquiry.
When i made payment for this prepaid card using my Barclaycard Visa, I had to go through additional security and verification at the checkout stage.
My Barclaycard is protected with the Verified by Visa service which mean that additional security information and passwords are requested from me to confirm my identity when using it for any purchases.
If my identity was confirmed at the purchase stage and a receipt and confirmation of the transaction was displayed then should this not be enough to satisfy the card issuer further to my ID and comply with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations??I think its vaguely connected to money laundering in the sense that you can load cash onto it etc and then spend it legitimately on websites etc, as i understand it all searches dissappear after 3-6 months anyway, i guess its a red flag to lenders since one may wonder why you need the prepaid card if you have a perfect credit file and can access traditional credit methods that are cheaper to use.
Why should any prepaid card that you can load cash on to, use on websites and that is widely advertised to the general public be connected to Money Laundering?
Am I to deduce that in the eyes of lenders, any person who has a mainstream credit card or two is to be pigeon-holed as fraudulent and a suspected money launderer should they want to purchase any prepaid card?
You are also incorrect with regards to all searches disappearing after 3-6 months from your credit files.
Credit searches and enquiries remain on your file for a period of one to two years from the date of the search.
This time frame is also dependent on which agency the search or enquiry was made with!0
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