Target Red Card managed by TD BANK has been hacked (December 2013)……. losses expected to be passed off onto consumers, the innocent….. This is so wrong.

TD BANK is not a local bank

TD Bank using practices inspired by METABANK?  Perhaps. However what is clear is that bank reforms are needed

Because the most recent late December 2013 hacking of the Target Red Card because the card is restricted to only being used at Target may help authorities to find out who and how this hacking happened.

Consumers need better and stronger protections. More than likely this expense will be passed off onto consumers. Target advertises heavily, but will they survive this most recent hacking event?

Target Discontinues Visa Credit Card

May 2, 2010
By: Joe Taylor Jr.

Target Discontinues Visa Credit Card

======================

Target credit cards will stop carrying the Visa logo after April. In a statement released to the Associated Press, company officials assured consumers that current Target Visa cardholders would continue to enjoy access to their accounts. New Target Red Card applicants will receive credit lines and cards accepted only in Target retail locations and on the e-commerce website it operates in partnership with Amazon.com.

Although numerous credit card issuers have scaled back affinity programs over the past year, Target becomes the first retailer in 2010 to discontinue a payment platform affiliation for self-managed accounts. Target started offering its own credit cards in 1995, but kept the financial operation in-house instead of outsourcing it to a private label service provider. Under investor pressure, Target sold a minority stake in its credit card portfolio to JPMorgan Chase in 2008.

Target’s actions may inconvenience customers who intended to use its branded Visa card at other merchants, but the move cushions the retailer’s financial position. By restricting Red Card purchases to its own stores, Target significantly minimizes the cost of any future charge-offs. The company can reduce spending on fraud protection and payment processing as Visa transactions phase out from Target’s portfolio.

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Disclaimer: The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying. Check our credit card database for updated terms and conditions.

This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express.  Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express.  This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by Chase.  Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of Chase, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Chase.  This site may be compensated through the Chase Affiliate Program.

Discover is a paid advertiser of this site.
Disclaimer: Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the Discover online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards.

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IS TD BANK REALLY A SUBSIDIARY OF META BANK, META PAYMENT SOLUTIONS?

We believe that TD Bank is simply another product that was  taught by METABANK. It is more likely that the METABANK formula has been shared by now to make it seem normal and acceptable. It is not!!

TD Bank top line alert:

Security Alert: Target Store data issue
TD wants to advise customers that Target announced a data compromise at its US stores from Nov. 27 – Dec. 15. To find out more, visit Target’s website. As always, TD is here to support our customers 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

It may be that through their bank training programs that how METABANK does business and which we have found to be deplorable have been made to be the current norm. Bank Reforms are needed that actually protect consumers.

Just because one bank is doing something immoral and unscrupulous that is no reason to believe that if many banks do this that the practice has suddenly become acceptable and for the good of the consumer.

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TD Bank Buys Up Target Credit Card

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If you are a Target Red Card holder, there are some major changes ahead for the ownership of Target’s credit card business, but fortunately, it looks like there won’t be changes to services.

Yesterday, Target Corp announced that it would be selling their credit card business to TD Bank. The Target Red Card gives customers a 5 percent discount on their Target purchases and has a reported $5.9 billion credit card portfolio.

The move is unsurprising for TD Bank. They have made it clear that they want more of a foothold in the U.S. with their purchase of Chrysler Financial Corp back in 2010, and coincidentally, Target has also been looking for a buyer for their credit card business since 2010. It was a matter of the right companies and the right timing.

So far, current Target Red Card users won’t have any need to worry. It looks like services will remain pretty much the same. Customers will still get their 5 percent discount as always, and Target will still be handling customer service issues and bill processing. The biggest changes will be for new Red Card applicants since TD Bank’s main role will be processing applications and determining the interest rate for accepted applicants.

Readers, we’d like to hear from you. What do you think of TD Bank buying up Target’s credit card business? Do you have a Red Card, and if not, would this partnership make you more or less likely to apply for one? Leave a comment below, and tell us what you think!

Want more credit news and tips? Follow My Credit Specialist on FacebookTwitter, and YouTube, and for more information on credit restoration, go to http://www.mycreditspecialist.com and find out if it is the right choice for you!

TD Delayed Stock Feed

Welcome to TD

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices around the world, TD Bank Group offers a full range of financial products and services through the following businesses:

Banking

Wealth

Insurance

Securities

TD Insurance

TD Insurance is a part of TD Bank Group. Government regulation prevents TD Bank Group from providing a link to theTD Insurance web page.

Our Community

At TD Bank, we are committed to making a meaningful and positive contribution to the individuals, families, businesses and communities within our marketplace. We serve on boards, work with neighborhood groups and donate thousands of hours of volunteer time to numerous civic and non-profit organizations.

This community spirit and involvement embodies the very core of our corporate citizenship philosophy. To learn more about what we do to support our local communities, please see TD’s global Corporate Responsibility Report.

Corporate Giving

Our dedicated employees identify opportunities to strengthen the communities where we are located through community development and service programs. [ As a consumer, you pay more so that any corporate entity can put their company logo on their gifts. This makes the corporate entity seem to be legitimate.]

In Your Community

We serve on boards, work with neighborhood groups and donate thousands of hours of volunteer time to numerous civic and non-profit organizations. Learn more about what we do to support the local communities where we live and work.   [This is also how they get their foot in the door.]

TD Charitable Foundation Special Grants ProgramsHousing for Everyone Grant CompetitionThe Housing for Everyone grant competition runs from early July to late August. Each year, a different theme aiming to improve affordable housing in communities where TD Bank does business is selected. Winners are announced in November.A total of $2.5 million will be awarded in 2013 to local non-profit organizations that make a meaningful difference in meeting the affordable housing needs in their communities.  [Please note that as consumers that you pay more so that money can be given in the name of a corporate entity; it serves them as a form of further publicity.]See the list of the 2013 Housing for Everyone Grant Competition recipients.

Non-Profit Training Resource Fund Grants  [The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association is a non-profit that was created to promote the use of prepaid bank cards…. we question how they can exist as a non-profit.]

A total of $200,000 will be awarded in 2013 to eligible community-based organizations for employees to attend approved classes/courses that will enhance their job performance.
Learn more about the fund and how to apply.

Contact Us

If you have questions or would like more information, please e-mail your local community contact.
*By clicking on this link you are leaving our website and entering a third-party website over which we have no control.Neither TD Bank US Holding Company, nor its subsidiaries or affiliates, is responsible for the content of third party sites hyper-linked from this page, nor do they guarantee or endorse the information, recommendations, products or services offered on third party sites.Third party sites may have different Privacy and Security policies than TD Bank US Holding Company. You should review the Privacy and Security policies of any third party website before you provide personal or confidential information.
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TD BANK is not a local bank

TD Bank Complaints & Reviews

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TD Bank – Maine – Poor customer service and training

Posted: 2013-09-30 by  Bring back excellent customer service!
Complaint
Went to my local branch of TD Bank (Augusta) to get counter checks to pay a security deposit and current and future rent. Post-dated 2 of the checks to meet the agreed rental terms. Asked the teller if for any reason the receptionist at my rental company’s office got the checks mixed up if they would be honored before the date due she said NO. Dropped the checks off. Two weeks later my payroll check, which is direct deposited is shown as in pending status well past the point of clearing, as I now have to to expect from TD Bank, there are the post-dated checks. One which is dated for 3 weeks…
Complaint country United StatesMaine Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – Massachusetts, Worcester – Customer Support

Posted: 2013-08-21 by  Ds
Complaint
I woke up this morning to a voicemail asking to call the store, and no further information. I called, and spoke to a representative who said he would go get the person I needed since she was not currently busy. He wound up transferring my call to a blank line so I was waiting there for 2 hours before I hung up. I called back, not in the best mood for good reason, and the same guy picked up, and told me I was in the wrong for being upset. Finally, after arguing with that know-nothing, I wound up on the phone with the lady I needed to speak with. She just wanted to confirm my email address. She could…
Complaint country United StatesMassachusettsWorcester Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – New Jersey, Moorestown – FEE OVERDRAFT

Posted: 2013-07-28 by  JZ
Complaint
WATCH OUT FOR TD BANK THEM RUDE PEOPLE THAT WORK THEY NEEDS TO BE RETRAIN THEY CHARGE ME 8 OVERDRAWN 8 FEE OF 35$ FROM JULY 1ST 2013 TIL JULY 27TH 2013, SO I ADVICE PEOPLE OUT NOT TO BANK WITH THEN ……
  Complaint country United StatesNew JerseyMoorestown Complaint category Banks
 

TD Bank – New Jersey, Tinton Falls – Quicken Bill Pay

Posted: 2013-07-10 by  NJT
 
Complaint
I’ve been with TD Bank for 10 years. I use Quicken to pay my bills. In May TD Bank decided to block Quicken access in favor of their bill pay, which just doesn’t work for me. I have 3 checking accounts and one savings account.

– It doesn’t show my FUTURE balance, so I have to re-enter in Quicken to determine how much money I need to provide in each account
– It doesn’t track my expense categories (for taxes), Quicken does.
– Since I have to continue to use Quicken to track expenses, I have to re-enter all transactions in Quicken (2nd time is undesired…

TD Bank – Florida – Obtaining mortgage

Posted: 2013-07-03 by  g
Complaint
I am trying to obtain a Mortgage from TD bank, and on my CLOSING DATE, now they want to call my employer to verify I still have a job. They already have verification of employment papers, stating my changes of continued employement are excellent, but I guess that is not good enough. We have a 2 hour drive (as we are on vacation) to get to this closing, not including the time it takers to get the certified check, but now they want this. They are incompetent and cannot do their job. … have had to e-mail documents several times to the processor, but somehow they keep getting lost. TOTAL INCOMPETENCE!!!….
Complaint comments 
Complaint country United StatesFlorida Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – Mortgages

Posted: 2013-06-03 by  Unsatisfied Customers for Life
Complaint
TD Bank lacks professionalism and the staff lacks experience. The personnel is incompetent and are non caring. They do not knw how to process loans….
  Complaint country United States Complaint category Loans

TD Bank – New Jersey – Poor customer service

Posted: 2013-05-09 by  Br
Complaint
Back in early January, 2013, I called the bank to stop a payment on a check made to an auto loan, I feared the check had been lost in the mail over the Holidays, and gave them the check number, they processed the stop payment and charged me the fee, which I had absolutely no problem with. I expected it. Last week, I paid this months bill to the auto loan on the telephone authorizing the money to be taken out of the checking account, and the bank stopped the withdrawl saying there was a stop payment issued, even though they had allowed the withdrawl in January, February, March and April. I immediately…
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United StatesNew Jersey Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – North Carolina, Spruce Pine – OverDraft Fees!!!!

Posted: 2013-04-12 by  enough enough!
Deposited my check after 2:00 aware that i could not use my funds (was told i could only use 100.00 for that day only) until the following day, so I did as told. I checked online that night and i was still in good standing. The next morning around 11:00 i checked online banking and to my surprise I was over drafted $170.00!! I called the bank. They did not seem to care. I did not fully understand what was going on and what happened to my money. Before i knew it my overdraft fees was out of control. I decided to pay off my overdraft fees even though i know I was robbed by TD Bank. I plan on closing…
  Complaint country United StatesNorth CarolinaSpruce Pine Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – Maine, Bangor – OVERDRAFT FEES

Posted: 2013-04-10 by  SOMEONE GET SOME BRAINS AT TD BANK
I WENT INTO TD BANK THIS MORINING WITH MY SON. HE HAD AN OVERDRAFT FEE OF $140.OO. ON ACCOUNT HISTORY IT WAS A POSITIVE BALANCE AND SHOWED NO RETURNS ALL FOR 4/8/13. THE OVERDRAFT FEE WAS DATED 4/9/2013. THOUGHT I HAD IT RESOVLED WITH THE BANK TO 0 BALANCE SO WE COULD CLOSE THE ACCOUNT. HE HAD ONE ITEM PENDING SO COULD NOT CLOSE THE ACCOUNT THIS MORNING. GOT A CALL FROM MY SON WHO WENT ONTO HIS ACCOUNT AND THERE WAS ANOTHER $175.00 OVER DRAFTS FEES LISTED WITH NO NEW INCOMING DEBITS. WHAT THEY DID WAS PUT THE 4/9/2013 FEE OF $140.OO PAID FIRST AND THEN THE PENDING AMOUNTS LISTED THAT WAS ALREADY…
  Complaint country United StatesMaineBangor Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – New Jersey, Somerville – America’s most INCONVENIENT bank

Posted: 2013-03-12 by  Je
 
Took repeated visits to the bank and multiple phone calls, wasted a lot of time on the phone trying to get these dumbos to change one savings account to another type, and they still haven’t done it. This is one of the worst banks I have seen. I should have heeded my alarm bells when I opened the account a few months ago, they did it fast but made a typo in my wife’s name, the agent said, oops, I cannot correct it on the spot, we should have walked away right then and there but didn’t (I had to spend time on the phone later and we had to come back in person because of the dumbo). I…
Complaint country United StatesNew JerseySomerville Complaint category Savings & Investments

TD Bank – Connecticut, Simsbury – Refinancing

Posted: 2013-02-20 by  dy
I am very upset with TD Bank processors!!! They are forever being out and
changing what they need from me! Now they say they can’t do anything for
me unless I give them $10, 000 for refinance closing costs! Ridiculous!!! I really wanted a local bank to help me! I thought they were the answer!…
Complaint country United StatesConnecticutSimsbury Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – Maine, Houlton – Shifty Accounting Causes Overdraft Fees

Posted: 2013-01-09 by  computertutor
Complaint
I have had both a business checking account and a personal checking account at TD Bank. I am ready to switch banks. Never in my lift have I had so many Overdrafts in my checking accounts as I have had from TD Bank. I realize now that a primary reason for this is that they maintain two separate sets of books; one they work from, and one that they share with customers on their website.

The online checking register will show checks deposited and available to use as soon as it has cleared; usually the next day. The set of books they maintain for themselves will not show the money as being…

Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United StatesMaineHoulton Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – New York, Hollis NY – money paid for safe deposit box,billed again

Posted: 2012-12-04 by  atiq qadri
Complaint Rating:  0 % with 0 votes
I am so upset on TD bank. I paid them my safe deposit box money a year ago on Jan 4th. They still have charge me after a year. After 3 months of opening the safe dep box acct and paying them money in advance, TD bank start sending me reminder notices that I did not pay them. I went to their branch 188-10 Hill side AVe, Hollis Ny Tel 718 464 2183, met with their officer Mr Ejaz who promised to resolve the case. After six months of visits and ph calls, the letters stopped. However, at the time of renewal again, I was charged last years fee as well. In oct and Nov 2012, I went to the branch 5 times….
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United StatesNew YorkHollis NY Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – Check written out however never received amount

Posted: 2012-11-24 by  Aspine
Complaint Rating:  0 % with 0 votes
I deposited checks at the ATM and the amount in which was deposited P never received however, The money was taking out of my direct deposit account. My statement did show the deposits as well as the with draws as well as the full subtraction from my direct deposit account. I called and spoke to so many people about this problem. The results was that I was at fault and that I did receive the money in its full amount which there computer showed deposits, withdraws and all transaction, I was held accountable for my wrong doing but the majority of the money that was incorrectly subtracted from my account…
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United States Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – checking account

Posted: 2012-11-04 by  ashleystep06
Complaint Rating:  0 % with 0 votes
After cashing my paycheck, I checked my account online. The teller made my paycheck a check agaist my account, and now the account was in the red. When I called and spoke to the VERY rude manager Lauren, she told me there was nothing she could do. I would like her to be repremended because now my son is sleeping in a dirty diaper since I can’t go out and get any….
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United States Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – South Carolina, Hilton Head Island – ID theft

Posted: 2012-10-25 by  News101
Complaint Rating:  100 % with 1 votes
Bank officer admits to help steal customer’s identity, then bank sues customer
By Jessica Farrish
Heartland News Service
Jessica Farrish
Heartland News Service
A West Virginia businessman is being sued by the same South Carolina bank where his identity was stolen by a loan officer in 2006.
Bank officials at then-Carolina First Bank in Hilton Head, which is now TD Bank (NYSE: TD), also harmed his credit by knowingly reporting the bogus loan to national credit rating agencies, according to a countersuit filed by the victim’s attorneys.
Charles…
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United StatesSouth CarolinaHilton Head Island Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – Québec, Montréal – Disrespectful Representative

Posted: 2012-09-28 by  Bangs
Complaint Rating:  0 % with 0 votes
I called to fix the mistake they did on my balance. I explained my problem and she keeps saying I was wrong and she wasn’t making me talk. She was disrespectful and I told her I’ll call back to review my bank history because I wanted to calculate everything and I did just now that I am right. When I said that I’ll call her and I said it twice, her response to me was ” what for ? you’re not right ” And she’s making it look like I’m poor or something was very offensive. She said ” are you saying that you’re not supposed to owe us money “. The…
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country CanadaQuébecMontréal Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – New Jersey – OVERDRAFT COMPLAINT

Posted: 2012-09-25 by  milly716
Complaint Rating:  0 % with 0 votes
I was advised to close my TD Bank account online and that going to the branch would not be necessary, I could send a message online and it would all be taken care of. I sent the message on 9/16. on 9/17 they accept an electronic debit from Midland National Bank AFTER they were advised to close the account and tacked on additional $35.00 fee. Now the account is overdrawn and they wont close it until there is a 0 balance on the account. THIS IS USUAL TDBANK BEHAVIOR and it is the reason why i’m leaving!! had i gone to the branch and closed the account, the account would have been closed right…
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United StatesNew Jersey Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – Connecticut – Lack of Customer Service

Posted: 2012-09-24 by  AlexisFrench
Complaint Rating:  0 % with 0 votes
TD Bank blocked my debit card after I purchased tickets in London over the phone because ” the transaction was unfamiliar” to them. TD Bank never contacted me and the only way I knew they had done this was ten days later when I was denied the use of the debit card, on-line banking and phone banking services. I was forced to go into the local branch to find out what was going on and it was only then I discovered I had a “hot card”! Apparently TD Bank cannot use the several phone numbers or email addresses it has for me to alert me or spare me the embarrassment of being denied…
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United StatesConnecticut Complaint category Banks

TD Bank – New Jersey, North Bergen – Retains Lawyers that will violate your Constitutional Rights

Posted: 2012-09-12 by  Hosed In NJ
Complaint Rating:  0 % with 0 votes
TD Bank uses a law firm in Hackensack, NJ. for collections named Winne Banta. They have filed for liens with the court using incorrect information and withholding pertenent information that would cause the court to deny the liens based upon funds being exempt from this type of action. In condoning this behavior as well as maintaining relations with Winne Banta TD Bank stands complicit in allowing Winne Banta and its minions to violate our rights under the 4th Amendment which prohibits illegal search and seisure of property.
I have consulted my US Congressman’s office and have verified…
Complaint comments Comments Complaint country United StatesNew JerseyNorth Bergen Complaint category Bad Business Partners

METABANK provides and processes Target’s Red Card

Target’s Red Card Hacked; Target’s Red Cards are Provided by and Processed by METABANK

 
Consumers report that they are unable to get in touch by phone with the provider of the Target Red Cards. Using the number on  the Target Red Card, consumers if they can get through only can hear a recorded message and then the call is disconnected.

Consumers report that when they phone the Target Store where they shop that they were told that Target can’t do anything to help them….. This is because META BANK is their collections agency and Target has no real control over the bank cards that have been issued for them by METABANK.

Part of the deal between Target.com and METABANK is for METABANK to have full access and full control of all of prepaid and credit cards. It may seem like a big financial solution to the partner corporation which is Target in this case, but METABANK hasn’t been a real friend to humanity at any time in the past.

Go to your own bank and put a stop or hold on the Target Red Card

We observe that in the face of encountering problems in the past that at the very moment that consumers need METABANK to step up to the plate to make their product safer than using cash, which is one of their foremost advertising promises, that METABANK becomes extremely unhelpful to their customer base.

We have found in the past that METABANK pushes the blame for any and all malfunctions in their product off on consumers themselves so that no consumer protections are ever put in place.

METABANK relies on the size of the population  and simply moves onto their next customer so they can repeat their scam.

Why is the USA still using magnetized bank cards? Problems with the magnetized strip have been highlighted for many years now. Europe uses a completely different system.

METABANK FAILS CONSUMERS ONCE AGAIN and those consumers may not even know they are a METABANK customer…. until now.

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Meta Bank partners with these stores: Do not get gift cards or purchase a credit/debit card at any of these stores since

PetMeds,

Best Western,

Dominos Pizza,

Macy’s,

Omaha Steaks,

Barnes & Noble,

Overstock,

and Target use Meta Financial, i.e. Meta Bank’s services

 These are Meta Bank Cards:Logo Companies

Take care of your selves. Do your research. Know who you are dealing with. Be warned.

Green Dot is marketed through CVS now.

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UPDATE

What to do if you shopped at Target during its data breach

By      
22 hours ago                      December 20, 2013

Consumers who shopped at one of Target’s 1,778 stores between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 should check their credit and bank card statements for any fraudulent activity. 

Target (TGT) confirmed Thursday that it’s investigating a security breach that may have impacted as many as 40 million people.

The stolen data include customer names, credit and debit card numbers, card expiration dates and the three-digit security codes located on the backs of cards.

The breach affected transactions at Target’s bricks-and-mortar locations nationwide, not online purchases. [Curious, but also a lead for anyone doing an investigation into the origin of the problem.  The card processors and providers should be scrutinized carefully.]

Security blogger Brian Krebs first reported the breach on Wednesday. Krebs wrote that the type of data stolen “allows crooks to create counterfeit cards by encoding the information onto any card with a magnetic stripe.

If the thieves also were able to intercept PIN data for debit transactions, they would theoretically be able to reproduce stolen debit cards and use them to withdraw cash from ATMs.” [Is this an inside job???]

The incident may have involved tampering with the machines customers use to swipe their cards when making purchases, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a statement on its site Target said the breach may impact shoppers who made credit or debit card purchases in stores from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15. The Minneapolis-based retailer said it is partnering with a forensics firm to investigate the incident and recommended customers “remain vigilant for incidents of fraud and identity theft by regularly reviewing your account statements and monitoring free credit reports.”

What should you do?

What does this breach mean for consumers, in particular those who shopped at Target stores in the period between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15?

First thing to do is check your credit card statements for unfamiliar purchases, as well as your bank account— daily — online to ensure there are no fraudulent transactions, says Linda Sherry, director at consumer rights advocacy group Consumer Action. Report any problems immediately to your bank. Your bank should contact you if your credit card was part of the breach. If you were affected, you’ll get a new credit card account number (obviously an inconvenience, especially during the holidays). You won’t be held liable for unauthorized charges made using your credit card number.

American Express (AXP) and Discover (DFS) said they were aware of the breach at Target and had fraud measures in place, according to a CNNMoney article.

If you receive a data breach notification letter from Target, “you know with certainty your information was compromised,” says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. (Consumers who know their card data was stolen can contact the ITRC at 888-400-5530 for help on what steps to take next.)

Sherry suggests impacted consumers ask their bank to waive the expedited delivery fee for a new card. Also ask if any credit monitoring services are being offered to victims of the breach.

What does it mean for Target?

The real victim here is Target itself, says Avivah Litan, a vice president and analyst at Gartner Research. In a post about the breach, Litan said that the retailer has no doubt spent a “small fortune on payment card security,” but was still hacked. [ Target partnered with METABANK. The cards are once again proved to be faulty at best.]

The payment card industry is likely going to raise Target’s merchant fee that it pays Amex, MasterCard, Visa and other credit card companies on transactions by a few points, and will also fine Target for the breach, Litan says. In the end, she estimates the theft will cost Target less than $25 million. But the fees it pays credit card issuers in transaction costs may be twice that amount. “If they get much higher, Target may have to pass on these costs to consumers in the form of higher prices,” she says. [You know that this will be the case!!!!!]

Security breach surge

[METABANK advertises that they are the largest processor of bankcards. We must wonder if METABANK has been negligent in their customer service here]

In the past few years criminals have grown increasingly adept at breaching the systems of merchants and processors that store or transmit consumers’ payment information. [Why is the USA’s banking system still using the magnetic strip bank card system still?]

In a report published this month, Javelin Strategy & Research found the number of notified credit-breach victims who suffered fraud increased 340% from 2010 to 2012, resulting in $4.8 billion in fraud losses.

According to the study, 15.8 million consumers were notified their card information was compromised in 2012.

The Target theft is the largest such corporate breach since 2007, when TJX Companies (TJX), which owns discount retailers TJ Maxx, Home Goods and Marshalls stores, disclosed that 45.7 million credit and debit cards were exposed to possible fraud. TJX’s computer systems were breached over the course of two years, beginning in 2005. The data breach ended up costing the company $256 million. In that case, attackers gained access through a wireless regional hub to intercept payment information.  [Hackers gained access through a WIRELESS REGIONAL HUB in 2005]

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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is under attack by the rich banks CEOs; You must act to protect consumers everywhere

  CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY AND WORKPLACE

AlterNet / By Dave Johnson

6 Unbelievable Ways the Big Banks Are Scamming You

Five years since the crash, the big banks continue to screw over their customers.
June 19, 2013  |

It is going on five years since the financial crash and three years since President Obama signed the meager Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the big banks are still scamming and conning and ripping off their customers. What a huge surprise.

After the financial crash, we heard about a laundry list of abuses and frauds that ranged from small things, like hidden fees, to pushing minorities into subprime loans and then switching them into more expensive mortgages at signing time, to huge things like selling trillions of dollars in complicated CDO schemes and making bets on derivatives of derivatives without having the reserves to pay off what they owed when the bets went bad.

Of course, no one at the top was prosecuted and the banks were allowed to settle a host of charges (which meant that their shareholders, not the executives who made the decisions, paid the fines). The bad behavior gave these giants a competitive advantage, driving out what good companies there were. So the costly and destructive bad behavior, schemes, cons and scams continue.

1. Falsifying Paperwork, Blitzing, Lying About Payments to Force Homeowners Into Foreclosure

This week, ProPublica released a report detailing the shocking ways that Bank of America has been pushing homeowners into foreclosure. Employees lied about documentation and falsified paperwork to force families out of their homes when these customers thought they were getting a loan modification under the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). To make matters worse, the bank gave bonuses to employees who were able to reach monthly quotas of people they forced into foreclosure.

According to a lawsuit against Bank of America, the bank used “blitzing” twice a month to deny HAMP applications even when the homeowner had fully complied with the program’s requirements; it gave employees $500 bonuses each month they forced 10 or more homeowners into foreclosure; it intentionally ignored applications for 30 days, then declared them late and forced homeowners to reapply; it closed applications even when they knew the homeowner had met all criteria; and it canceled loan modifications because of “late payments” when the bank’s records shows that payments had been made on time.

Of course, as long as the government refuses to prosecute banks and bankers for violating laws, and instead negotiating “settlements”  that require bank shareholders to pay fines, bankers will see no reason to stop this kind of activity.

2. Bank Protection “Service” Puts Consumers at “Greater Risk Of Harm”

Last week  a report from the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that the big banks are still scamming their customers with ridiculous fees that are hugely profitable for the big banks.

Three years ago the government required banks to ask their customers if it is okay (this is called “opt-in”) before they charge them for “overdraft protection” service. CFRB has been studying how this is working out, and its report shows that customers who do not opt-in to this heavily marketed “protection” service pay much, much less in fees than those who do. In other words, agreeing to use the “protection” actually puts you at a much greater risk of incurring expenses than those who are not “protected.”

According to  a McClatchy News report on a call with CFPB director Richard Cordray to discuss the report, Cordray said, “What is marketed as overdraft protection can, in some instances, put consumers at greater risk of harm.”

How much risk? People who are “heavy overdrafters” but still opt out of this service save on average more than $900 a year. But it isn’t just heavy overdrafters who are saving. According to the CFPB report “… the reduction in fees for those who did not opt in was $347 greater, on average, than for those who did opt in.” People who opt in are also more likely to lose their bank accounts, with the bank “involuntarily” closing it.

Banks have made $32 billion from these fees. So maybe this isn’t about providing a “protection” to consumers at all. As  NPR puts it, “Overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees accounted for 61 percent of total consumer deposit account service charges in 2011 among the banks in the CFPB report.”

3. Transaction Ordering

Not only do customers who opt-in pay more for this “protection service,” but the banks are still scamming them by causing the overdrafts that generate these fees. The CFPB report says that some banks still use “transaction ordering” to cheat customers out of additional fees. These banks post checks or debit transactions from large to small to trigger these fees. In other words if you write several small checks (or make debit card transactions) and then a big one that overdraws your account, they credit the large one first so each of the smaller transactions causes its own fee to be charged, even though those transactions occurred before the account ran out of money.

From the report, “The earlier in a sequence that an account becomes negative, the more overdraft or NSF transactions may occur.”

4. Forced Arbitration

Another big-bank scam on consumers is “forced arbitration” clauses in bank account, credit card, mortgage and other financial-service agreements. Forced arbitration clauses – also called mandatory arbitration or binding arbitration – require you to give up your legal right to take a big bank to court if it cheats or harms you. And if you don’t agree (which requires reading the entire agreement) you can’t get the account.

They way this works is that instead of being able to pursue your legal rights, you have to take your complaint to an arbitrator, and then must accept the arbitrator’s decision. The catch is that the bank gets to pick the arbitrator, and the arbitrators naturally know they’ll never work in this town again if they ever rule against the banks. So there is an inherent conflict of interest working in favor of these companies.

How is that conflict of interest working out for us? A 2007 Public Citizen report revealed that arbitrators working for the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) had ruled against consumers 94 percent of the time.

In another blow to the big banks, the CFPB is beginning to take steps to reign in forced arbitration clauses in consumer financial contracts.

The five-year-old Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act authorizes the CFPB and the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate mandatory arbitration. The SEC is resisting implementing their part of this law, but the CFPB is conducting a survey to determine consumer awareness of forced arbitration clauses in credit card agreements.  On its blog, the CFPB said the study will “explore consumer awareness of dispute resolution terms in credit card agreements. The survey will gather information about consumers’ perceptions, preferences, and assumptions related to arbitration proceedings.”

5. Marketing Refinancing That Costs People

Thom Hartmann has exposed yet another banker scheme. This time banks are marketing a mortgage refinancing that promises annual savings of more than $4,000. But the scheme really just adds more than $37,000 to the cost of a loan.

Basically, the mailer focuses on lowering monthly mortgage payments, while neglecting to mention that the borrower would end up paying a higher overall interest rate, and would be adding 10 more years to the overall length of their loan. Hartmann  writes,

Back in November of 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sent warning letters to around a dozen of America’s largest mortgage lenders and brokers, advising them to “clean up” potentially misleading advertisements, especially those targeting veterans and older Americans.

At the time of the CFPB’s announcement, CFPB director Richard Cordray said that, “Misrepresentations in mortgage products can deprive consumers of important information while making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.”

And, as we also know, deceptive mortgage advertisements like this can cause consumers to bite off more than they can chew, ultimately leading to a nationwide financial meltdown.

6. Banks Trying To Kill the CFPB

Over the years, scam after scam is exposed, and nothing has been done about it. But there is a new cop on the beat, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB’s job is to police the big banks, and protect financial consumers. Of course the big banks are trying to head this agency off at the pass.

The Republican Party and its conservative infrastructure have basically been contracted by Wall Street’s big banks to obstruct and even kill this agency. Senate Republicans have been blocking the confirmation and are still trying to obstruct the nominee to head up the agency. Republicans have been filibustering the nomination of Richard Cordray to be its director and even vowing to filibuster to keep any nominee from being confirmed to head the agency. President Obama finally  made a recess appointment of Cordray in January 2012. But this recess appointment runs out at the end of the year with no end to Republican obstruction in sight.

Republicans are also  trying to defund the agency. Republicans and the (billionaire, Wall Street, oil and tobacco-financed) conservative movement have also launched a propaganda campaign against the agency. Recently, at the Senate Republican Policy Committee website, “CFPB: Unaccountable and Unrestrained,” claims, “A recent action by the CFPB to monitor consumer credit cards and the spending habits of millions of Americans is raising new concerns in a government suffering from a trust deficit.” In an example of how the right’s echo machine works, the Heritage Foundation echoes this attack, alleging that CFPB gathering data for reports like this one is an example of government “surveillance” on consumers, “amassing an Orwell-worthy database on all manner of spending, including … overdrafts …”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren – the person most credited with the creation of the CFPB – spoke at a Senate hearing on the CFPB last March on the role of the CFPB and Republican obstruction of the agency:

“I see nothing here but a filibuster threat against Director Cordray as an attempt to weaken the consumer agency,” Warren said. “I think the delay in getting him confirmed is bad for consumers, it’s bad for small banks, bad for credit unions, for anyone trying to offer an honest product in an honest market.”

“The American people deserve a Congress that worries less about helping big banks,” she added, “and more about helping regular people who have been cheated on mortgages, on credit cards, on student loans and on credit reports.”

Don’t expect much to change until we have a government that is willing to take on these financial giants. As long as we keep seeing “settlements” with these giants instead of prosecutions, and as long as we allow big money to buy influence over our government, nothing will change.

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But the banks’ CEOs have huge incomes and the power that comes with being super rich. The rich banks and corporations run  the USA and form all of the policies. Citizens must speak up and vote appropriately.

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Tendency To Blame the Victim is a form of arrogance – METABANK; META PAYMENT SYSTEMS; Pay Power

The tendency to blame the victim is what allows each of us to feel safe rather than allowing ourselves to be alert.

Bobi wrote:

I have been using PayPower for over 2 years. I have checks from both of my jobs direct deposited onto my card and I use ATM’s regularly. I have never had any problems with them holding my money.

I find it hard to believe that they “stole” your money.

Oh and by the way, when you try to pay for gas at a pump, the store authorizes your card for a certain amount. Typically anywhere between 75.00 and 125.00.

You should have read the small print before attempting to pump $3 and some change.

Two Years of using Pay Power is an inadequate amount of time to be able to say whether this product is good for everyone.

You indicate that you work more than one job and have all of your money directly deposited onto your card and that you use ATM’s regularly…..Because you haven’t had any problems with them holding your money, you find it difficult to believe that METABANK  “stole” anyone else’s money.

First of all, we are so happy for you, but your experience fails to negate all of the problems that others have encountered with the METABANK PREPAID BANK CARD.

Bobi  wrote, “Oh and by the way, when you try to pay for gas at a pump, the store authorizes your card for a certain amount. Typically anywhere between 75.00 and 125.00. You should have read the small print before attempting to pump $3 and some change.”

One of the major problems that we have encountered with METABANK PAYMENT SYSTEMS was that they immediately tried to push off all the blame for any problem that consumers have found using their product onto the customer rather than to correct the problem. Bobi seems to be doing the same to other METABANK customers or is Bobi really from METABANK/METAPAYMENT SYSTEMS?

Bobi  wrote:“You should have read the small print before attempting to pump $3 and some change.” Wow, that is an arrogant comment and the same attitude that we have encountered in dealing with METABANK/META PAYMENT SYSTEMS. META BANK/META PAYMENT SYSTEMs indicates in the small print that they retain the right to change all of the rules at any time and without giving warning.

Have you read the small print??????

It doesn’t appear that you have, Bobi.

Try to fill up a gas tank these days with $3.00 and you wouldn’t even get one full gallon. No where has any consumer indicated that they tried to only buy less than a gallon of gasoline in this blog….. that is your spin on whatever personal stories others have shared. It is the same spin that METABANK also uses… Curious!!!!

METABANK and their corporate partners give gift cards to the people they expect to help them to promote the card for them. Perhaps you are one of those recipients. Our experience has been that there are different numbers on the cards issued by METABANK so that some are actually by design far more vulnerable because METABANK has targeted them for whatever reason.

May you never be the victim of a scam. May the people with whom you share the implication, and your impression that the METABANK PREPAID CARD is the best thing going so that they buy one only to discover they have been scammed find that they are able to forgive you.

The majority of the statements in your comment above begin with “I” as in you are the only person who matters, and for you that may be true, but the reality is that we live in a community where if one person suffers all end up suffering in some way right along with them. You can continue to blame others for their problems. However, when you have a problem, and we feel certain that at some point in your life that you will, who will be left to help you when everyone else has nothing, no money and no energy to lift a finger to help you? You may think that you are immune, but you are just like the rest of us and no doubt a part of humanity ( although your message indicates a complete lack of compassion or any form of empathy.)

It doesn’t sit well these days to be an arrogant, know it all, who seeks to put down others when they are suffering simply because you aren’t.

There is no reason why METABANK has so much small print. Much of the publicity that METABANK puts out is layered and designed to look like factual information; it is by design created to confuse and to entice potential customers. METABANK relies on being able to hook in the next victim and not on retaining customers. We cannot with a good conscience even begin to encourage others to use the METABANK PREPAID CARD. META BANK sells these cards using many different names so we can’t endorse using PREPAID CARDS of any kind.

The arrogance that we have found in your comment mirrors the arrogance that we have found within METABANK itself. METABANK seeks out potential victims through a partner company, corporate entity whom METABANK CEOs basically wine and dine to get that corporate entity to take on their collections agency services. The attitude that the customer is basically stupid is one of arrogance, and I see that same arrogance and rather narcissistic  characteristic in your response. METABANK sets up all the rules and retains the right to change the rules at any time and without notice; that is in their fine print!

Bobi wrote,” Oh and by the way, when you try to pay for gas at a pump, the store authorizes your card for a certain amount. Typically anywhere between 75.00 and 125.00.” METABANK indicates that the prepaid card is better than paying with cash. We have also observed that some places simply will not accept the METABANK PREPAID CARD; we assumed that those places had been burned by METABANK’s practices on the other end of the transaction previously.

Pushing the blame away from METABANK and off onto another person seems to be part of the list of excuses that have been given to all of METABANK’s phone representatives. The METABANK phone representatives have no authority other than to read from the list of excuses to the customers who phone in with complaints; they are not authorized to address problems nor to find genuine solutions. This thinking goes counter to the way America has traditionally done business.

$75.00 to $125.00 can be authorized but not say $45 to $50 which may be more in keeping with what it may take to fill up a tank of gasoline at this moment in time. This means that METABANK/METAPAYMENT SYSTEMS has been using false advertising…… Small Print!!!! That is laughable!!! The small print is designed to obfuscate the whole process.  METABANK mostly seeks out online customers so they can do this kind of scam more easily. Link opens up to another link.

There isn’t a gas station that would be happy to issue the remainder of a $45.00 expense to fill a car’s gas tank with a cash hand out to that customer….. This statement makes no sense; the logic is missing.

Does a consumer really have all of the necessary details from which they can make an informed decision? We have discovered over and over again that METABANK Partners and their customers are basically being misled; this is what makes METABANK/METAPAYMENT SYSTEMS such a scam and why consumers should avoid all services provided by METABANK/METAPAYMENT SYSTEMS  which is in reality a collections agency and although they may be registered as a bank, METABANK/METAPAYMENT SYSTEMS  acts more in the capacity of collections agency.

Using a METABANK/METAPAYMENT SYSTEMS isn’t easier nor safer than using cash. METABANK/METAPAYMENT SYSTEMS  is an unnecessary  middle man who is making huge profits off of the most financially vulnerable citizens.

Trust us that it is a very bad beginning point to assume that anyone who has problems with METABANK is just stupid. This kind of an assumption is an effort to negate the humanity of all other people. METABANK’s phone representatives always blame the consumer for any problems they may find in using their product, and this is what your message is doing as well. WHY??????????

Every person has something going for them. You haven’t apparently experienced enough in life to be able to recognize the truth when it is staring you in the face. However, I am also open to the possibility that some people simply choose to find a sense of security for themselves that they are superior and therefore immune from all harm…. This is an illusion, of course.

Once METABANK has a customer’s cash money, then METABANK has full control of that customer’s cash money. Read between the lines in all that small print and it will become quite clear to you Bobi, or it should be. Perhaps, Bobi has no real reasoning power of their own… It is so difficult to know why Bobi would feel compelled to criticism others, and their have been many, very many, who have been scammed by METABANK unless Bobi has Bobi’s own personal interests at stake in the METABANK scheme.  Poor, Bobi.

Thanks for sharing your experience. We think that many people will find it to be entertaining.

Here is another consumer’s complaint about their experience of having used Pay Power by META BANK:

Paypower held my $4000 for no reason and refuse to give me my money!!
When I asked them to close my account and give me back my money, they refused!
You don’t even have to put in your card number or identify yourself when you call them, they know you by your voice! (perhaps also by caller id)

They refuse to give their last names and the Nevada detectives are investigating them!
Don’t use them!!!
They have at least 72 complaints on ripoffreport.com and at least 90 on pissedconsumer.com!!!!

They claim that all the reviews online are not true and that they are reputable but they steal your identity and your money!
I sent them all the documents they requested and then they are asking for a copy of my paycheck to release the hold that they placed on my $4000 for NO REASON AT ALL!

PAYPOWER IS A SCAM!!!!!!!!
PayPower stole $4000 from me!!!!

Certainly it isn’t in Pay Power or METABANK’s best interest to fail to address that consumer’s complaint adequately so why does METABANK go against all of the norms… ah ha, this too is part of their formula for how to scam the public and get rich.

The tellers at the Storm Lake Iowa banks receive wages that put them below the poverty level and yet it is at this level where the METABANK CEOs ask for them to carry out the dirtiest aspects of their ploy, and they can barely make a living doing it.

SOME FURTHER REFLECTIONS FROM OTHER CONSUMERS

The complaint is, ”  HAVE TO WITHDRAW MONEY FROM THE A.T.M. WHICH OF COURSE CHARGES YOU A SURCHARGE/FEE TO GET YOUR OWN PAYCHECK THAT YOU WORKED YOUR A** OFF FOR.”

Bobi arrogantly wrote: “I have checks from both of my jobs direct deposited onto my card and I use ATM’s regularly. I have never had any problems with them holding my money. I find it hard to believe that they “stole” your money.”

We no longer use METABANK or any partner company when possible. METABANK has also tapped into the prepaid card rebate system to try to tap into getting more business on their prepaid bank cards.

Bobi, the consumer who complains just above explains that it costs them money to get their pay or their salary off of the Prepaid Card. That person has worked really hard just to get paid, but their employee has worked out some money making scheme with the bank to pay their employees using prepaid bank cards….. The fact that they have to pay surcharges and fees just to be able to access their own salary, we find to be reprehensible.

This is a scam of the working people who work for wages for their mere survival. This is a form of economic servitude that we find to be deplorable….. Bobi, you seem to be living in a bubble and immune to the real world that is all around us. Or are you someone who enjoys the suffering of others? That would be really sick, and yet your message seems to be completely oblivious to the suffering in the world, the world near you.

Are you not aware that 1 in 4 American children live in poverty in the United States. Their parents care about them, but they struggle to make ends meet in a system that has been designed to take advantage of the most financially vulnerable among us.

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Solving Customer’s Problems Should Be of the Foremost Importance…. METABANK abused us while we were their customer

Customer Service Solves Problems To Create Loyal Clients

but NOT SO at METABANK

Make it easy for frustrated customers to contact you, get problems solved. You’ll create loyal clients.

In the past 30 days, I canceled service with three companies I’ve used for years.

Customer service was the reason. It was that bad.

 

But I kept my business with another company even though its actual service keeps messing up. That business’ customer service is that good.

Customer-service representatives are everywhere. Anyone with a phone, TV, computer, coffee maker, credit card or insurance; or who buys subscription services or makeup from shady companies advertising on TV has dealings with them.

And let’s not forget about business-to-business customer-service reps. [This is part of how METABANK performs their scam.]

Their numbers are growing by the minute. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the profession will expand 15.5% through 2020.

Call centers alone had almost 23,000 vacant jobs, more than a third listed in the past week, according to CallCenterCrossing, which calls itself the largest collection of call-center jobs. The company cites the health care law, holiday season and general economic expansion as the chief reasons for a rise in call-center hiring.

As long as companies offer things to buy and services to use, folks will need help.

[Customers have over a period of many years now indicated that METABANK and its affiliates, including the Network Branded Bank Card Association, fail when it comes to customer service. We, as former METABANK customers/clients believe, based on our own personal experience using METABANK et al., that METABANK by design treats their customers in an abusive manner. We have been scammed and lied to. We have been treated in an inhumane manner.

METABANK does not offer any kind of model that should be used as a guideline by any other entity…. METABANK relies on numbers and the population is growing rapidly.

METABANK relies on getting partner corporate entities to market their prepaid bank card  a relationship which is in fact one that will increase the rate of decline of that partner company. At first the partner company will experience an initial  spurt that may appear to be great and fabulous; this is the honeymoon, but it is a marriage that is doomed by design. METABANK only wants their partner companies’ list of customers whom METABANK will use for their own financial gain.

In establishing this partnership, METABANK promises to take care of all the collections for their partner. Collections is the dirtiest of dirty work so the partner company is happy to hand over this part of the operation to METABANK. METABANK, as we former customers have found, has an abusive customer service system by design.

When METABANK’s customer serivice representatives basically went through a list of standard lies they had been handed to use for all situation; the lies serve to blame the customer for the problems the customer had encountered using METABANK. However, by design, METABANK created a prepaid bank card which customers load with cash money, and then METABANK limits and controls when and even if a customer will be able to have access to their own money…. This scheme is predatory. It is based upon false and misleading promises.

METABANK is by design immoral. Only consumers can speak up to warn others so that METABANK can be stopped from doing this great scam on the people.]

Companies claim to know how important these front-line jobs are. They say they strive for a “customer-first mindset,” “transparency and accountability,” “positive customer relationships” and “consistent and efficient delivery of superior customer service.”

So why don’t more customer-service reps deliver? Is it the company or the employees?

Likely both.

Workers tell me they want these jobs because they like people. Yet too many companies do everything they can to not let their people talk to us.

Finding contact information can be like a game of hide-and-seek.

Some refuse to talk to you. Take Twitter: [This isn’t a model anyone should follow!!!!!]

My account has had a problem for four months. I’ve obediently followed Twitter’s directions and sent in a dozen requests for help.

I’m still waiting for an answer.

On the other hand, companies such as crowdSPRING help businesses and creative talent find each other and make it easy for customers to communicate with them.

[This concept is an old one that worked. It worked very well. This is what we as consumers expect, but this is not at all what METABANK provides. METABANK uses this concept to catch consumers and their partner companies off guard so that METABANK can get their foot in the door. What META BANK does is an IMMORAL ACT.]

This company posts its phone number on every page of its site. No doubt this springs from the philosophy of co-founder Mike Samson who tells his reps that the spoken word is better than the written word, to say “please” and “thank you” and always end with “much obliged.”

 

People who get into customer service tell me they love to solve problems.

Yet “I can’t help you with that” are the last words that a lot of people hear from a customer-service rep.

  • Those workers either don’t know how to think like a problem solver or don’t think they have the authority to help.
  • Some customer-service reps are plain mean. The other day I asked a one that I could barely hear if she might speak a little louder.   She snapped, “No, I can’t scream.”
  • When you keep getting bad customer service, you wonder why companies keep sending surveys asking how your customer-service experience went.
  • I also often wonder why companies insist that customer-service reps speak canned faux caring phrases like “Have a nice day” after they’ve been mean and obstructive.

Chief Operating Officer Zach Cusimano of Bizness Apps, which makes mobile apps for companies, says his business doesn’t coach reps to use particular phrases.

Company officials do encourage them to “throw in some love” and foster more interactions by saying, “I’m happy to help,” “Please let me know if you have any other questions,” and “Looking forward to hearing from you again.”

[However, if these statements are nothing but empty words with no real response and no action behind them then they are useless. It is our strong impression as former METABANK customers that the CEOs of METABANK have created all of the guidelines, which include a list of rote excuses for why it is always the customers’ fault for any problems they may have encountered. METABANK creates the problems by which they get rich and then richer; METABANK breaks with every expectation that any person would normally expect.

METABANK creates all the rules and retains the right to change all of the rules without notice. This is bad, but on top of that METABANK takes customer’s money and keeps us/them from having access to their own money while using the NETWORK BRANDED PREPAID BANK CARD.

The NETWORK BRANDED PREPAID BANK CARD amounts to being an interest free loan from customers to a very rich bank. The whole concept has been reversed. Potential customers are mislead into taking on such a card by the partner company who is in effect being used as a “PATSY” in this dynamic triangle of abuse of the consumer.]

I contend that more people would like their customer-service jobs and customers would be happier if they did what Jesse Richardson does.

“We love our customers,” Richardson says. She is conscious community officer for Conscious Box, a subscription service for eco-friendly products.

Seriously.

If you want a satisfying career helping solve problems for people who are frustrated, confused and sometimes angry, care for them no matter what.

Find a great company that values them and you.

In the 25 years I’ve counseled people with their careers, most tell me one thing: I want to be of service to others. Here’s your chance.

[As former customers of METABANK we had expected this kind of treatment, but METABANK and the NETWORK BRANDED PREPAID CARD ASSOCIATION act in a predatory manner so that they abuse their customers, only to move onto the next  person so they can dupe that person. The huge size of our population is how METABANK has been able to get away with this kind of scam for as long as they have. Only you can stop this kind of a scam.]

Career consultant Andrea Kay is the author of This Is How To Get Your Next Job: An Inside Look at What Employers Really Want.

Say No to Meta Bank; Say No to the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association

CONSUMERS: “Spend Your Hard Earned Money Carefully” ….. Buying Happiness

Background:

META BANK and the Network Branded Prepaid Bank Card Association have created a product that will make you miserable. Each of the two entities mentioned above make promises to consumers that these prepaid cards will be safer than using cash. This is true for the bank, but not for consumers. It is a gimmick for the bank to get full control of your “CASH MONEY” so they can get an interest free loan from consumers. When consumers need their money the most they simply can’t get access to their own cash money once it is placed on one of those prepaid cards. META BANK brags that they are the largest provider of prepaid bank cards. META BANK makes consumers extremely unhappy. As consumers you would do yourself a great service by simply not using META BANK. Unfortunately, META BANK operates using a third party to promote their prepaid bank cards and their prepaid bank cards are sold using different names. This means that you may not realize you have opted in to META BANK’s plan, which is by design a scam of their consumers. META BANK simply moves onto the next consumer to scam them relying on a large population that is growing rapidly.

This blog was created by consumers for other consumers. We need to bond together, share the reality of our lived experiences, and serve to protect others who are people who are a lot like us, consumers who are looking for a fair deal and to be treated with respect.

META BANK’s treatment of consumers had become so outrageous that something needed to be done. It has already taken on an international scale and magnitude. META BANK is the rich stealing from the poor so that they can get richer and richer at the pain, misery and expense of the most financially vulnerable people in society.

This is a cautionary and truthful summary of what I experienced using a META BANK prepaid card.

However, we don’t want to leave you without a sense of hope. Michelle Singletary explains some ways to get your money to work for you to bring you happiness and she is spot on. Her October 4, 2013 column appears, copied and pasted below:

Michelle Singletary

Columnist Washington Post

Five ways money can buy you happiness

By Michelle Singletary, Published: October 4

You have probably heard and maybe even embrace the idea that money can’t buy happiness. I’ve said so myself numerous times.

But behavioral scientists and researchers Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton argue this is not exactly true. Money, if you spend it right, can buy happiness.

So what’s the right way?

“Shifting from buying stuff to buying experiences, and from spending on yourself to spending on others, can have a dramatic impact on happiness,” Dunn and Norton write in “Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending” (Simon & Schuster, $25). Dunn is an associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. Norton is an associate professor of marketing at Harvard Business School.

Truthfully, I needed a break from all the dreary talk about the federal government shutdown and concern the country might default. So “Happy Money” is the Color of Money Book Club selection for this month.

I’m always trying to find research that looks at how people can do better with the money they have. I plan to use this book in my financial classes, where folks believe that if they just made more money, their level of happiness would increase. They could afford to buy better stuff, a larger home or cooler car. Yet studies show that more doesn’t increase your long-term happiness.

Dunn and Norton strive to show how to spend money in less typical but more pleasing ways. They offer five principles you can use to buy happiness:

●Buy experiences. As frugal as I am, my husband and I decided many years ago to set aside two weeks a year, every year at the same time, to take a luxury vacation with our children. My oldest has gone off to college, but she still wants to be included on these family vacations. As Dunn and Norton write: “Research shows that experiences provide more happiness than material goods in part because experiences are more likely to make us feel connected to others.” [META BANK has robbed us as consumers of opportunities like this because they withheld our money from us when we needed it the most. META BANK is not a friend to consumers.]

Make it a special treat. Don’t overindulge yourself, the authors say, because “abundance, it turns out, is the enemy of appreciation. This is the sad reality of the human experience: in general, the more we’re exposed to something, the more its impact diminishes.” [Think about this: “Abundance is the enemy of appreciation.”  You don’t need to keep spending money on things to be happier especially if buying things puts you into a state of debt…. “Keeping up with the Joneses” needs to be practiced in reverse. Purposefully down scale, downsize your image from all those Joneses…. Don’t worship the false God of money, greed and materialism. Life is best with less, but you should be in full control, real control of your hard earned cash money. Don’t hand over that right to an anonymous entity like META BANK.   META BANK is motivated by greed and profit increasing at all level regardless of the rest of the genuine needs of humanity]

Buy time. If you can afford it, you might decide you’d rather hire someone to cut your grass than do it yourself. You might spend a little more on an item rather than drive across town to save 10 percent. I’m a reformed bargain shopper. I realized I was wasting a lot of time going from store to store trying to save money. “We too often sacrifice our free time just to save a little money,” the authors write. “Many of us wish we had more free time to do more of what we love.” [Be sure that you get the service you have paid for…. META BANK prepaid card is not a genuine or honorable service. META BANK has scammed consumers over a period of many years. This is their sole purpose and they scam consumers by their own design.]

●Pay now, consume later.

[Please note Singletary is NOT promoting putting your cash money on a prepaid bank card, a gift card or a debit card here…. Please read carefully.]  

“Consuming later provides time for positive expectations to develop,” Dunn and Norton write. Paying for a vacation in advance may help you enjoy it more because by the time you take the trip you won’t be so focused on the cost. At the same time, fight the power of now. This is especially true when it comes to paying with plastic. In one study cited by the authors, 30 people were asked to estimate their credit card expenses before opening their monthly bill. Every participant underestimated how much he or she had spent on credit by an average of almost 30 percent.

●Invest in others. I generally hate spending money. But when I helped a friend’s daughter by buying her books for college, I was elated. I was investing in her education, and that was an awesome feeling. My husband and I often get teased for our frugality, but we counter by telling people we are cheap for a purpose. We like spending money when it makes a difference in someone’s life. Dunn and Norton say their research shows that spending even small amounts of money on others can make a difference in your happiness level. [This means having control over how you spend your own money. Give directly to the person you wish to help.]

I love the five principles of happy money because they aren’t about getting more money but getting more out of the money you have. Let me leave you with this from Dunn and Norton: “Before you spend that $5 as you usually would, stop to ask yourself: Is this happy money? Am I spending this money in the way that will give me the biggest happiness bang for my buck?”

I’ll be hosting a live online discussion about “Happy Money” at noon Eastern on Oct. 31 atwashingtonpost.com/discussions. Dunn and Norton will join me to answer your questions. Every month, I randomly select readers to receive copies of the featured book donated by the publisher. For a chance to win a copy of this month’s selection, send an e-mail tocolorofmoney@washpost.com with your name and address.