Meta Bank

MetaBank is one of the largest prepaid debit card issuers in the United States (more than 50% of the debit cards reviewed on GetDebit.com are issued by MetaBank). Through their premier Meta Payment Systems division, MetaBank services more than 500 prepaid card programs.

[Take Note of what you just read above:MetaBank services more than 500 prepaid card programs.

This is not an endorsement of METABANK or any of their affiliates.

We are consumers who were scammed while using MetaBank’s Prepaid Cards.

Above, please note that  METABANK is bragging about being the largest prepaid debit card issuer in the United States.

Bigger isn’t always better we have all learned in recent years!!!!]

MetaBank also serves as a traditional financial and lending institution providing a diverse product offering across several product lines including personal finance, commercial finance, mortgage services and agricultural services. MetaBank has 12 brick and mortar offices located in 4 distinct market areas. Offices include: Central and NW Iowa; Sioux Empire, South Dakota; and Brookings, South Dakota.

Meta’s subsidiary Meta Payment Systems (MPS) manages four business segments including: ATM Sponsorship, ACH Origination, Prepaid Debit Cards and other various Credit Products. The unique “Super Community” philosophy on banking has enabled MetaBank to realize continued growth, while in the same breath, keep its community banking roots. Inherent benefits to this mentality are streamlined efforts and rapid decision making at the local level and a more enhanced service package to the customer.

[Online banking has been problematic for many consumers. Customers feel abused and taken advantage of by Meta Bank/Meta Payment Systems. The prepaid card may say it was issued by Meta Bank, but Meta Payment System may then respond to your letters of inquiry so which are you actually dealing with?

Customers feel like they aren’t being heard, and METABANK isn’t listening to them nor is MetaBank actually addressing customers’ concerns and problems in any real way.   Customers complain that they have been passed from one customer service personnel to another and nothing ever gets satisfactorily resolved. The real issue is that MetaBank wishes to scam those others, the people they never see face to face.]

MetaBank’s “Money On The Move” platform is one of the many innovations [innovation or scam? For MetaBank former customers have found them to be one in the same]  created to enhance the customer experience.

[Why are customers still complaining then?]

There are four payment systems platforms:

Gift Card Platform

[Gift cards are often left with a certain amount of cash still on them…. Just give cash!!!! Avoid the middleman which is more often than not, META BANK. Why are you giving an interest free loan to Meta Bank???? Because that is really what you are doing along with most likely a small cash gift to METABANK too.  Think about this. Why give money to an unknown entity????]

• Discover gift card purchase at bank
• Electronic funds sent to Meta from bank [Direct access to your source of income.]
• Gift card given to friend or family
• Recipient spends at merchant [Not all merchants accept the prepaid card or consumers find that holds have been placed on the cards.]
• Discover pays merchant and electronically moves money from Meta [How much control do you as a consumer have then over your own money assets?]

[This may actually be how Meta Bank categorizes what they do, but for consumers, many complain that they are shifted from phone MetaBank clerk to another one and their problem is discounted. Also customer service  clerks have lied to customers. It appears that the phone answerers have been given a list of reasons and ways to push the blame back off onto the consumer for a product that was never designed to actually meet the needs of the consumer.]

Rebate Card Platform

• Product bought at merchant/rebate form filled out
• Rebate processor electronically sends funds to MetaBank to hold
• Meta sends Rebate MasterCard to customer in mail
• Customer spends funds on card
• MasterCard takes money from Meta to pay merchant

[MetaBank markets heavily to cultivate partner companies who market their product for MetaBank. To get money off of the rebate card, a consumer has to send their personal information to an unknown entity. In this time period, this kind of requirement is upsetting and of great concern. ]

Travel Card Platform

• Visa travel card purchased at bank

[What bank? Oh Meta Bank controls all of the transaction from start to finish… that was our experience.]

• MetaBank holds funds until needed [We couldn’t access any of our money]

[Meta Bank simply held all of my money, and I had put a lot of money on that card. Their clerk had asked when I would be leaving and for how long  I would be gone before I re-loaded it. However, Meta Bank never re-loaded the card. Meta Bank simply held my cash money for one full month as an interest free loan to them. Something is backwards in the thinking and practices within Meta Bank.      

Travel cards are issued in twos. One is the re-loadable card and the other has immediate access to the money. Meta Bank said they had loaded the wrong card because my spouse gave them the wrong number. The other card was in a drawer at home; it had never been issued to my spouse but to a child. The only number that my spouse had was the one that  I had emailed to my spouse from an internet cafe. It was the right number; why was Meta Bank trying to push blame off onto others rather than fix the problem?

The card was supposed to have been re-loaded, but it wasn’t. Meta Bank complained that I had never phoned them back to say that the card didn’t work. 

 Meta Bank accepted my cash money for the card and never loaded the card. I had no cash money to spend while I was on what was supposed to have been the trip of a lifetime in Europe. I was basically living as a homeless person in Paris. How could I have phoned Meta Bank or even emailed them.

That same year another traveler also couldn’t get the Meta Bank Card to work; no place would accept the card although it had been sold as a travel card. Meta Bank told this well-educated person that he hadn’t used the card properly.

Meta Bank always gets another entity to sell their product for them. This fact removes Meta Bank from having direct contact with the customer.

The other fact is that customers may be buying prepaid cards from an entity where they have been doing business for years so the customer has a sense of security in using the product presented by a place they have known and been known for years. 

Meta Bank courts the partner entity’s CEOs so that the CEO of the known company actually believes that what Meta Bank is selling may be a reliable product. On the second or third page, consumers may read that Meta Bank reserves the right to change all of the rules at any time without notice to their customers.  

Meta Bank told me that they had no contact information on file for me, but  this is a complete and outright lie.

Why did Meta Bank feel the need to lie? 

It was this need to lie to me as their former customer rather than to try to resolve the problem that Meta Bank had created that drew my attention. Then after that on-line, I saw that many, many other customers had complained about almost the same identical problem.] 

• Customer uses card for travel expenses

[If only we could!!! We couldn’t get the travel cards to work. We were left with out access to our own cash money when we needed it the most.  This made us vulnerable. 

METABANK’s internal practices and policies have caused their customers great pain repeatedly; Meta Bank lies. It didn’t just happen to one person; the same thing happened to many customers over and over again.  

The way that Meta Bank handled the problem once it was brought to their attention was OUTRAGEOUS, abusive and offensive.]

• Merchants paid by Visa as funds taken from Meta

[We suspect that the European places where our acquaintance couldn’t get anyone to accept his card in payment have been scammed by Meta Bank on the other end of the transaction.]

[The four highlighted items for  Meta Bank prepaid cards fail to assure consumers that they will be treated properly, fairly and with dignity by Meta Bank as their customers. In reality, Meta Bank’s travel cards, speaking from our real lived experience using it indicates that the card is designed to fail customers. This problem is compounded by the fact that Meta Bank has lied to consumers for why they can’t get the META BANK product to work. Therefore, from our experience even the four points above are lies along with being false and misleading empty promises.]

Reloadable Card Platform

• Consumer buys card at retail merchant store
• Consumer direct deposits employer paycheck on MetaBank card
• Consumer buys groceries, clothing, gasoline and other goods and services on card
• Visa pays merchants/service providers and transfers money to cover from MetaBank

[I couldn’t get Meta Bank to re-load our cards. Oh, Meta Bank took my cash money and kept it from me when I needed it the most, but I had no access to my own cash money.]

 [Therefore, we strongly urge any potential investors to seriously re-consider whether it is appropriate for them to invest in bankmeta.com or NASDAQ:CASH]

On one of the links of the Meta Bank Website, we found the following which further highlights the fact that Meta Bank fails to address customers clearly expressed concerns with the METABANK PREPAID CARD. 

METABANK once again is talking down to customers as if we are an inconvenience but necessary source of income.

Prepaid Debit Card > Debit Card News > Prepaid Exaggerations

Prepaid Exaggerations

Dec 20, 2011 — As a larger and larger percentage of the population enters the prepaid debit card market, there are exaggerations and untruths perpetuated nationwide.

[Why would people speak out against a card that has failed to meet their needs!!!!? Oh yeah, the answer is obvious.]

When using any financial tool, there are methods that can financially benefit cardholders, while others that can be quite detrimental to the pocketbook.

[ None of us have found any merits to using a prepaid bank card now that we have given it a try. METABANK has created a prepaid bank card that they can manipulate internally so that they make even more than what the ordinary interest free loan would have given to them. Many, many former customers have complained about METABANK’s customer service over a period of many years.]

Below are a few prepaid card fallacies that we have outlined for you:

[fallacy is defined as 

fal·la·cy  noun.    plural. fal·la·cies

1. A false notion.

(Meta Bank is about to present statements which are fallacies because MetaBank uses their prepaid bank card to scam their customers so that METABANK can get access to even more money for themselves.)

2. A statement or an argument based on a false or invalid inference.

(Meta Bank is the master of inference that they use to hook in customers; this is how Meta Bank is able to hook in customers and what makes Meta Bank’s practices predatory.)
3. Incorrectness of reasoning or belief; erroneousness.

(We have wondered about the WHY that drives METABANK’s actions and practices. The need to win seems to factor in to the equation, but the practices of MetaBank are indicative of a very sick thought process. The need to lie to their own customer base is symptomatic of a very sick way of thinking.)
4. The quality of being deceptive.

(Meta Bank created the concept of Prepaid Bank Cards and then proceeded to push the very limits of the concept so that they abuse their own customers. This is very sick.]

Prepaid cards can solve all of your budgeting problems

– It’s true that cards like the KLS Prepaid Visa RushCard can be used as a tool to HELP you manage your money and most cards will just be declined if you try to spend past the amount loaded on the card. Still, financial responsibility comes with each person’s ability to plan, budget, save and control spending accordingly. There is no financial instrument that can solve all of your financial challenges for you. [KLS? Rush Card? … all METABANK products?]

 [Quite to the contrary, elsewhere on METABANK’s own pages, METABANK does say that by using their prepaid debit card and having it attached to the customer’s salary or government payments… then if they use the card often, they may be able to improve their credit history…. This has actually over a period of years been one of METABANK’s biggest selling points for their product…. I have seen it in print and complained about this marketing ploy frequently on this blog. METABANK may believe that they are glossing over this potential when they mention it in their publicity made to look like a page of bank information. However, the fact that it is clearly posted on METABANK’s websites and that it hasn’t been removed is a problem.] 

Prepaid cards have outrageous fees – While there are some prepaid cards that can accrue rather high fees, there are those like the Western Union MoneyWise MasterCard that have extremely competitive fees, not only with other prepaid cards, but traditional banks and check cashing services as well. Fee structures vary from card to card, so cardholders need to read the terms and conditions to determine most advantageous usage.

[In reading the terms listed above, we can see contradictions in what METABANK says. The word “outrageous” for example. Outrageous means: 

Meta Bank takes their customer’s CASH MONEY UPFRONT so it is unthinkable that while METABANK gets what is basically an interest free loan from the customer and while Meta Bank limits what the customer can spend that they would also charge their customer any fee at all or even consider charging their customers a fee for using the META BANK PREPAID CARD. Because Meta Bank gets an interest free loan from their customers, charging a fee from that same customer for giving META BANK an interest free loan. META BANK has all of their customer’s  cash money upfront. According to the dictionary definition of what outrageous means then METABANK’s charging of any fee so that METABANK can get an interest free loan for their own benefit and use is in fact outrageous.

Check cashing fees????   People who struggle financially and who therefore have no bank account are often charged check cashing fees by banks.

METABANK takes an interest free loan when a customer puts money on a prepaid card. The mere thought that MetaBank would charge people who give them full control of their own cash money is more than outrageous; it is immoral. Rather than handing over their cash money to Meta Bank and giving up control of their own cash money, customers would be better served by paying in cash directly.

Prepaid cards will help you improve your credit score – This has been one of the biggest exaggerations of prepaid cards out there. The READYdebit Visa does provide a free “ScoreTracker” that allows you to track your credit score, credit attributes and debt over time. While that is a great feature, the three main credit bureaus do not recognize ANY prepaid card usage and user’s FICO scores will not be affected one way or the other.

“Prepaid cards will help you improve your credit score” is what META BANK has actually posted on their own webpages over a period of years. It is therefore an exaggeration that METABANK makes regarding their own product. It would therefore appear that METABANK is far more dedicated to obfuscating their practices and policies than to providing a genuine service to customers…. Many METABANK customers have indicated that METABANK customer representatives have lied to them. This is the report of more than one former METABANK customer. In the statement above we see an example of the twisted thought patterns behind the actions we, as Meta Bank customers, have encountered. It wasn’t just one person, but many people who encountered the same problem with METABANK’s customer service.

Prepaid cards are ONLY for people with bad credit – A great many people with challenged credit do take advantage of prepaid cards so as not to live beyond their means. There is a significant amount of the population that use prepaid cards to save money on fees (bank, check cashing, overdraft, etc.), protect their identity or even enroll in programs like the BillMyParents Spend Smart MasterCard to assist their children in the art of financial management.

[The parents of college students, the college students themselves and others who appear to come from many socio-economic income brackets have equally complained about the poor and improper customer service that they have encountered at METABANK.]

Prepaid cards can only be loaded at retail stores – Green Dot MoneyPaks found at many retail stores are a very popular method for loading money on prepaid cards like the Mango MasterCard. Now, a large variety of prepaid debit cards can be purchased online and shipped directly to your home address in a matter of days. Mango actually delivers you a “Virtual” card the instant you are approved online for immediate purchasing transactions.

[Meta Bank gets retail stores to sell their prepaid cards. Some banks also sell the MetaBank Prepaid Cards. Other commercial enterprises have also sold the METABANK PREPAID CARD. It has become obvious that METABANK courts partner companies’ CEOs to get them to sell the MetaBank Prepaid Card card for them. It appears that METABANK is constantly looking for partner companies to market their product. METABANK needs partner companies and those companies’ customer list. This makes the above statement seem to be trivial and irrelevant.]

[Does the card work or will you be asked to give cash money up-front and then find you can’t access your own cash money? This is major customer complaint by former Meta Bank customer, including us. It is the abuse of the contract for the monetary gain by Meta Bank at the expense of the customer that irks us. The fact that Meta Bank retains the right to change the rules at any time without giving any notice to their customers is also immoral.]

[The anonymous on-line sale of the prepaid bank cards seems to be part of METABANK’s strategy. Meta Bank sells their product to a faceless public whom they treat as if they were completely devoid of humanity. Such treatment and abuse of customers by METABANK is immoral.]

These are few of the larger myths surrounding prepaid products that might have a little basis in truth, but not much. There are online information sources available to assist you in choosing the best prepaid card for you. Just take some time to investigate.

[As former MetaBank customers who were scammed, lied to and then abused by METABANK all that we can do is try to warn other consumers so that what happened to us never happens to another person…… This is a moral issue for the benefit of humanity because MetaBank failed us in the way that they treated not just one person, but many people in the past. Once the problem was brought to the attention of MetaBank, their customer service personnel consistently tried to push the blame for the problem back off onto the customer. This would indicate that the problems found within METABANK are by design and planned to fail the customers because no effort has ever been made to correct any of the reported problems for their customers on the part of Meta Bank.]

[Myths? This is a very curious take on the years and years of scams that METABANK has pushed off onto an unsuspecting public……  Is this just another form of publicity at which Meta Bank has shown itself to be masterful over and over again, just before their highly developed skill of being a collections agency via the Prepaid Bank Cards over which they manage 500.]

[If MetaBank hadn’t scammed us, lied to us and abused us, there wouldn’t have been any need to even create this blog site.

Bank reforms and far better banking regulations that are independently enforced are needed.

Meta Bank hasn’t acted as a friend to even their own customers. Metabank’s practices are counterintuitive so they have made a lot of money very fast almost as if no one was paying attention.

Those people who have been taken advantage of, lied to and abused by METABANK remember how they were treated. We want to protect other consumers.

Please do not  invest or encourage METABANK to continue to abuse consumers.]