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.