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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When your boss asks you to do work that you perceive to be immoral…..

Exploring the Self-Esteem Related to “Having a Job” any job…. an immoral job may backfire

We have wondered how the METABANK employees who answer the phones as customer service representatives actually feel about what they do.

 

Certainly they must know they are lying to people, ordinary people who are just like them.

 

Statistics show that bank tellers in Storm Lake Iowa earn salaries that place them below poverty level.  How desperate can these phone representatives be? Have they been so mislead that they believe in what they are doing?

If they are ignorant of what they are doing, what will it take for them to realize that they are the ones who are making METABANK’s CEOS super rich while they still live below the poverty level?

Could they understand that by lying to the customers that this is dishonest? For how long can these customer representatives going on perpetuating this lie that makes their CEOs so rich? Certainly there must be something in it for these people to lie to other people who are so much like them at the other end of the phone? What kind of “UNTRUTHS” have these METABANK phone representatives been fed so that they carry out the dirtiest job on behalf of the METABANK CEOs?

At Work: Job, self-esteem tied tightly together

Andrea Kay, Gannett12:57 p.m. EDT August 31, 2013

Feedback on the job can be a buffer against depression.

Work means so much to us Americans that without it some people don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.

That is likely one reason unemployed adults and those not working as much as they would like are twice as likely to be depressed as Americans employed full time. [Feeling stuck in a dead-end job such as being a phone representative for METABANK…. This has got to be a pathetic and hopeless situation for those who are being required to do the dirty work that makes the METABANK CEOs rich and then richer yet.]

STORY: Who’s feeling stressed? Young adults
COLUMN: Workers’ happiness rubs off on profits [ Think about this!!!!!!]

That’s the conclusion of a Jan. 1-July 25 survey of more than 100,000 Americans conducted by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. It says 16.6% of unemployed Americans are depressed compared to 5.6% of those who work full time.

“Self-esteem and self-worth are closely aligned with working,” says psychotherapist Charles Allen, who estimates about 10% of his clients are out of work or worried about losing their job.

When you have a job, you have a continuous source of feedback that you are a contributing member of society, he says. That’s not to say you go to work thinking, “Hey, I’m a valued member of society.” The idea is largely subconscious.

[But what if you are asked to harm innocent people who are just like you whom you only encounter at the other end of the phone??? That can’t feel hopeful in anyway.]

“You feel it in the depths of your brain,” he says.

Being employed helps you feel wanted and that you’re contributing to your finances, says psychotherapist Elizabeth Lombardo. It also gives you social support — “a buffer against depression.”

In his practice, psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert sees a lot of unemployed people who are depressed.

He describes them as usually feeling hopeless and helpless, their sense of identity greatly diminished.

“Employment provides a sense of purpose, … of belongingness,” he says. “Those who are unemployed lack that purpose.”

Some unemployed workers also lack structure, which leads to unhealthy habits like staying up until 3 a.m. then getting up late the next day. That “makes them feel even more different than the employed,” Alpert says.

Being depressed also can affect your ability to seek and keep a job.

Allen’s depressed clients who are unemployed “typically have tremendous difficulty in finding work because they lack energy and drive to engage in a job hunt,” he says. Their pessimism and feelings of worthlessness also contribute to the idea that they won’t find work.

When motivation plummets, you withdraw and “why bother?” prevails, Lombardo says.

A depressed person may not do well in interviews.

“Who wants to hire ‘Debbie Downer?’ ” she asks.

Some people who are depressed can have a tough time keeping a job: They take too much time off, have a lack of drive, don’t concentrate well and sometimes simply don’t care, Alpert says.

[ The term “SIMPLY DON’T CARE” highlights that some people may take a job as a phone representative at METABANK just to have a job. They may understand that what they are doing is immoral, but perceive that there aren’t many other options. This has got to be a sad state of affairs for these employees. If they could see a positive way forward, internally they may be able to ask for the right to treat others fairly…. This situation is predatory on so many levels…. Shame on METABANK CEOs who created this abhorent and offensive scenario.]

They also “often have a poor self-image and lack confidence, two factors that strongly impact job retention and performance,” he says.

Alpert says he also sees a lot of another type of depression — in people who are employed.

It “usually stems from high stress and feeling disenchanted with their job or simply unhappy with the direction their career has taken them,” he says.

Feeling stuck in a position “can bring about a sense you have no control over your situation,” Lombardo says. “Feeling powerless can cause depression. And depression can lead to getting demoted.”

Depression among those with jobs costs U.S. employers $23 billion annually in lost productivity, according to Gallup.

The survey found that depression decreases as income rises. It showed that Americans who earn less than $36,000 annually are nearly three times more likely to be depressed than those who earn more than $90,000 annually.

Depression takes a toll on a person — employed or jobless — as well as the economy.

[We find it impossible to believe that the METABANK Phone representatives who lie to customers can do this in the long term without having some feelings of remorse. We have, of course, made the assumption that they are human beings. How desperate are they that they can continue to lie to people who are a lot like them at the other end of the phone?]

It may be depressing to talk about depression. But the more we know about it and discuss it, the more likely the stigma associated with it will be reduced.  [We believe that America is a sick society at this time. It is imperative that as ordinary people that we insist on humane treatment of each other… this treatment goes both ways, you know… It is the “Golden Rule.”]

And perhaps the people who need help the most will get it.

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

 

Note:  Please notice carefully where METABANK and any other Prepaid Bank Card offered places their advertisements 

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.

Unscrupulous Banking Practices in the U.S.A. – 2013

I was suggested this website by my cousin.

 

I am not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my difficulty.

 

You’re amazing! Thanks!

 

We are just consumers who have been scammed by META BANK and the non-profit Network Branded Prepaid Card Association which mainly was created by META BANK.

In 2009, META BANK which is the largest provider of Prepaid Bank Cards and the NBPCA paid the most to Rupli Lobbyists in Washington, D.C. to advocate for getting all sorts of prepaid cards out on the market. If you contact your elected officials, if they ever go back to work in D.C., you must ask for better bank regulations, clarity between what is publicity and what are actually policies governing any bank product.

Once money is put on the card, it is charged fees to activate or it has hidden fees.

The problem is that cash money must be paid upfront before any services are rendered. Once META BANK and any bank following the same banking practices has their customers’ money, META BANK has full control of that customer’s money and the customer has no control of their own cash money.

The problem is that many people have been scammed in the same way by Meta Bank and then Meta Bank lies to their customer. META BANK is really a collections agency that operates in unscrupulous ways. As consumers, we have been misled by confusing and overwhelming publicity scams created by META BANK.

META BANK actually only offers the exact same scam but using different names and different publicity tactics targeted at specific customer’s achilles’ tendons, their weaknesses or their soft hearted spots just as a gimmick to get those customers to opt in to the exact same scam. The names on the cards sound like they are a different product, but they aren’t. META BANK keeps re-cycling the same old scam they perfected by beginning as a “Thrift Bank” serving the under-banked and the un-bank which translates into seeking out the most financially vulnerable people in society. The scam is to take from the poor and give to the rich CEOs of META BANK so that they can get richer and richer.

The misery that META BANK creates is immoral.

Consumers must share their experiences, expose each and every new name that Meta Bank operates with, and encourage other consumer’s to protect themselves. Our own lack of clear information, our own isolation and our own decision to opt in to products, like prepaid cards, albeit due to misleading advertising by banks like Meta Bank and by Meta Bank..

Meta Bank is really nothing more than a collections agency with very creative, overly creative, marketing practices. Meta Bank must win no matter what; you as the customer simply don’t matter. You are just a tool for Meta Bank and not another human being; Meta Bank prefers to keep that internet distance between them and their customer base so they can more easily scam you. You are not a person to Meta Bank.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, we need you to continue to speak out against the way consumers are being abused by Meta Bank and banks like Meta Bank.

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.

Pay Power is METABANK and METABANK’s practices fail consumers repeatedly

Had METABANK not taken advantage of us, made us very vulnerable, and lied to us and to the Better Business Bureau of Des Moines, this blog would never have been created.

But the fact remains that METABANK lied to us, the partner company that sold us their product and to the BBB of Des Moines, IA. METABANK took our money, our cash money because that is the only way that a card can be loaded/re-loaded, and then kept us from having access to our own money when we needed it the most. This action made us even more vulnerable than if we had been paying directly using cash. The prepaid card only is a money making gimmick that serves to make the METABANK CEOs outrageously rich… This is not a sustainable pattern for the US Economy.

Why you don’t want a PAYPOWER VISA DEBIT issued by METABANK tm

#1 Pay Power is a METABANK product.

#2 The gimmick of attaching a direct deposit that will give you the added bonus of a $20 credit isn’t enough of an incentive given the fact that you will actually be giving complete and full control of all of your assets over to METABANK, an unknown and anonymous entity that you found online.

#3  The concept of a direct deposit is okay, but it has been so abused by METABANK that in their hands it becomes like a weapon against METABANK’s own customer base.

#4 Many customers, that is former customers of METABANK, have complained for years now that METABANK keeps them from being able to access their own money when they need it the most. METABANK’s customer representatives have lied to customers repeatedly for the reasons that the customers aren’t able to access their own money. The control that METABANK wields over their customers’ accounts has gone far beyond what can be considered normal and appropriate. METABANK’s customers are a huge cash cow for METABANK and create a “living hell” for customers who must give METABANK cash money.

#5 METABANK promises to provide safety and security, but this isn’t for their customers. METABANK is working to get safety and security for themselves. Once METABANK has control of all of your assets, your cash money, then you will discover that you can’t access your own cash money. You have been taken in by false promises.

# 6 METABANK is really a collections agency and not a bank in the sense that we have always thought of banks. METABANK relies on the consumers’ previously held impression of banks as being the safest place to keep  their money. METABANK is a Member of FDIC and that statement may lull customers into thinking that METABANK will be in a fiduciary position to protect their customers’ assets…. METABANK is not and has never been able to deliver a quality product for protecting their customer base.

#7  METABANK relies on partner companies and internet ads to get  new customers so they can keep doing the same old scam to a new batch of consumers. METABANK relies on getting a new batch of customers of whom they will then begin to take advantage for their own personal gain and at the expense and misery of the METABANK customer.

#8 Marketing strategies of METABANK involve the creation of new names for the same scam on consumers. This is one way that METABANK endeavors to get around the law… METABANK “is always one step ahead of the law.”

#9 METABANK creates all the rules governing their services or as it turns out for consumers ” a lack of real service accompanied by abuses.”

#10 METABANK helped to create the “Non-Profit” NPBCA to advocate for PREPAID CARDS in DC by using Rupli and Associates. It is a way for METABANK to make themselves appear to be legitimate…. What METABANK does with the prepaid cards is to abuse consumers. The cards are designed so that METABANK has control of your cash money. Customer Fees are attached to opening up the cards while METABANK is getting an interest Free Loan from those who can least afford to give out loans.

#11 METABANK is a “thrift bank”… This term is used to indicate the lowest level of customer service and the highest level of fees for the consumer.

#12 METABANK indicates that “No Credit Check” is required, but consumers have indicated that META BANK does a credit check anyway, but without your knowledge. METABANK is consciously looking for the more vulnerable people to give them loans at a very high interest rate.

#13 By creating a direct deposit from your salary/payroll check or government check that is affiliated with a METABANK debit card, you are becoming an economic slave for METABANK. As a consumer, you must understand that you are establishing a state of economic servitude for yourself by entering into a contract with METABANK.

#14 METABANK/NBPCA is like a Cancer: they are offering training sessions around the USA. Just look at their schedule of up-coming events. You may believe that you are not going to be affected by METABANK, but it may be that you already are one of their customers. The training sessions serve the purpose of normalizing the type of actions and the way that METABANK has scammed their customer base for a period of years now.

#15 METABANK created an organization that purportedly examines customer service and that organization gave METABANK a best customer service award…. While customers continue to complain about how they were abused and taken advantage of by METABANK.

#16  METABANK never accepts responsibility for the problems they have created for others, their own customer base. By design this cannot be a sustainable way to do business, but  in the meantime, as consumers, we don’t want to become METABANK’s next victim as their system comes to a head and fails. METABANK is using a get rich quick scheme. It is not a long term solution for any bank or their customer base.

#17 METABANK has as its parent company META PAYMENT SOLUTIONS and META FINANCIAL GROUP INC… METABANK really isn’t at its core a bank in the conventional sense that will protect their customer base’s assets in a mutually beneficial arrangement. Empty promises are used to lure in customers; METABANBK has no intention of providing those services. Years of consumer complaints have proven this to be true. METABANK advertises for employees who are willing to work in a fast paced, ever changing scenario and who can deal with angry customers. METABANK expects “angry customers” because at the heart of what they are doing, even METABANK knows what they do is a fraud and an abuse of their own customers for their own get rich quick scheme.

All that we can do is to try to warn others about this problem:

METABANK relies on the internet and partner companies to push their prepaid card.

METABANK makes promises and implies services they have no intention of ever giving their customer base.

METABANK relies on keeping their customer base at a distance. Customers have been charged for phoning METABANK. Many customers say that they get the run around from METABANK when they phone. It appears to consumers that the METABANK phone representatives have been given a list of reasons for why consumers can’t access their own money. The underlying message is always that IT IS THE CUSTOMERS’ FAULT FOR WHY THE METABANK PREPAID CARD DOESN’T WORK

METABANK has never shown any kind of real and genuine response to their customers’ complaints. The customers complain about the identical mistreatment and METABANK has never ever actually addressed their customers’ input nor their real needs. METABANK’s publicity says one thing, but the actual customer service will be totally different and horrible.

Please be advised to ” DO NOT BUSINESS WITH METABANK” or with any other bank or partner trained by METABANK

The old saying that your parents used to tell you that “just because everybody else is doing something, it doesn’t make it right”…. METABANK and the NBPCA may provide training events to promote and to normalize what they are doing, but what METABANK does and how METABANK operates is immoral and an abuse against society and humanity in general for their own personal gain… Consumers are being warned to no do business with METABANK or any entity that has been influenced by METABANK.

BankMeta.com

METABANK Scams their customers over and over again

youre not aloneyou’re not alone

Nov 14, 2009

 

 

I purchased an Only1 prepaid debit card for gasoline purchases to avoid using my bank checkcard and to pay at the pumps. The card I purchased was a $100.00 card.

The total cost was $106.00 at the register.

The following morning I tried to use the card at the pumps only to discover the card was only good for in store purchases.

I prepaid for $20.00 worth of gas and left with the intention of spending the balance immediately and eliminating the card.

Imagine my surprise when 30 minutes later I discovered the balance on the card was $5. Thats right!!! I paid $106.00 for a card with a purchase value of $25.00

Please complain to everyone , everywhere until we get the proper customer service we need as consumers….METABANK hasn’t provided proper customer service and they apparently don’t have any intention of giving proper customer service…. As consumers we must speak up for our rights!!!!!

Making a budget, Paying using only cash… Easier and safest approach at this time

Budgeting simplified to allow us to save and to spend using cash only!!!

10 Ways to Simplify Your Budget

Every Tuesday is Finance & Family Day at Zen Habits.

I’m always looking for ways to simplify my finances (I’m weird like that, I know), and recently I’ve been scrutinizing my already-simple budget to make it even simpler.

I thought it would be helpful to share some of the ways to make your budget as simple as possible.

The goal is to

  • reduce headaches,
  • eliminate the need for complicated tracking schemes,
  • and reduce the time you spend on your budget and finances to about 15-20 minutes per week.

I can’t claim these ideas are original, or that I haven’t discussed them in various places before, but in my experience, they work. They’re simple and powerful.

Let’s first look at setting up a budget.

If you haven’t done it yet, it’s probably because budgets seem intimidating to you, or they are too much hassle to set up and maintain.

Those are both valid points — which is why you should follow this simplified plan if these things apply to you. Now, there’s plenty of fancy software out there for setting up budgets, but I don’t think they’re necessary. A simple spreadsheet will do — and if you can create a SUM formula to add up the total of a column of numbers, you have all the spreadsheet knowledge necessary.

1. Create a simple spreadsheet for your budget, if you haven’t already, and start by listing your income and your monthly expenses. Estimate, in round numbers, how much you spend on each expense every month. You can adjust later, but it’s better to err on the side of too high a number, rather than putting a low number and breaking your budget.

Now let’s look at ways to create a simple budget:

2.  60 Percent Solution. There are many ways to structure your budget, but the simplest I’ve found is the 60% solution. Basically, this budget asks you to fit your regular monthly expenses within 60% of your gross income, so that you have room for savings (long-term and short-term), retirement and spending money (“fun money”). These are the things that most often break a budget, because most people don’t budget for them.

Now, your percentage will vary, but the percentages given here are just rough guidelines:Fewer categories.

A lot of budget software asks you to fill in a million categories and subcategories. Those can be useful if you want to track all that stuff, but I don’t. I recommend simplifying: just use broad categories like food and gas and spending and utilities. Use what works.

  • 60 percent: Monthly expenses — such as housing, food, utilities, insurance, Internet, transportation. This is the part most commonly thought of as a budget.
  • 10 percent: Retirement — and if you’re doing it right, this is being automatically deducted from your paycheck for a 401(k) investment.
  • 10 percent: Long-term savings or debt reduction. It’s best to invest this in something such as stocks or an index fund, and this can serve as your emergency fund. But if you are in debt (not including a home mortgage), I would advise that you use this portion of the budget to pay off your debts, and even draw some from the other categories such as retirement to increase this to about 20 percent for now. Once your debts are paid off, you can switch this to long-term savings. You still need to have an emergency fund, but while you’re in debt-reduction mode you can either create a small, temporary emergency fund out of the money from this category or the next.
  • 10 percent: Short-term savings — this is for periodic expenses, such as auto maintenance or repairs, medical expenses (not including insurance premiums), appliances, home maintenance, birthday and Christmas gifts. For this savings account, be sure to spend the money when you need it — that’s what it’s for. When these expenses come up, you will have the money for them, instead of trying to pull them from other budget categories.
  • 10 percent: Fun money — you can spend this on eating out, movies, comic books — whatever you want. Guilt free.

3. Pay bills online. As much as possible, pay your bills online. These would be most of the bills in the first category above — utilities, rent or mortgage, cell phone, Internet, etc. If you can’t pay electronically, have your bank send out a check to the vendor. Make these payments automatic, so you don’t need to worry about them.

4. Automatic savings. Make your savings automatic as well. Every time your paycheck is deducted, have a scheduled transaction transfer a set amount from checking to savings. Use a high-yield online savings account such as Emigrant Direct, HBSD, or ING Direct.        [I am not familiar with any of these companies so I cannot endorse them…. They were in the original article… Please note though that you are not being sent to bank at METABANK. There is a very good reason for that.]
5. Cash. For everything else, use cash. If you’re doing automatic bill payments and savings deductions, the only things you’ll likely need cash for are gas, groceries and fun money. Withdraw these amounts in cash twice a month, rather than using checks or credit cards. The reason is that it’s simpler — with cash, you don’t need to worry about overspending, or tracking how much is left in that category. You can see how much is left. Leave the credit cards for when you absolutely need them — traveling, for example.
6. Envelopes. If you use cash for three categories, for example, use three envelopes. This is an old-fashioned system, but I use it because it works. I have an envelope for groceries, gas and fun money. If I’m going grocery shopping, I bring the groceries envelope. I know how much is left in the envelope before I go grocery shopping. I spend the cash for groceries, and then can easily see how much is left now. Simple, and no tracking necessary. When the money is gone, you’ve spent your budgeted amount. If necessary, you could transfer cash from one envelope to another, and there’s no need to adjust your budget.
7. 15-20 minutes a week. Now, the budget and spending plan I’ve outlined above is fairly simple and headache-free — but you shouldn’t assume that it doesn’t need any maintenance.
You should devote 15-20 minutes a week to ensuring that your finances are in order. Just this little amount of time each week will greatly simplify your financial life, reduce headaches, and prevent any messes from occurring later. Set a day and time when you take a look at your finances each week.
Set aside 30 minutes, just to be safe. Now take 5-10 minutes to enter your transactions into your financial software (I use MS Money, because it came with my computer, but a spreadsheet or other financial software will do fine).
If you’re following the plan above, all you’ll need to do is go online, look at your bank account, and enter your deposits, bills paid, ATM withdrawals (only do this twice a month!), and any other fees. It shouldn’t take long.
Now spend another 5-10 minutes to review your budget and make sure that all bills have been paid that should be paid. If not, pay them.
It’s that simple. You’re done. Now go back to reading your blogs.
8. Fewer accounts. Some people have complicated systems set up with lots of different accounts. I say simplify. You don’t want to be checking a million different accounts. You should have one checking account and one or two savings accounts (one for emergency fund and one for periodic expenses). You could have a bunch of investment accounts if you want, but I’ve found it simpler to just have one. I lose diversity, but my fund is already pretty diversified.
9. Dump credit cards.
[Dump all  bank cards period…. Get rid of all those plastic nooses!!!!] Multiple credit cards are also a headache. Simplify by just having one. Or do what I do — have none.
This will draw the usual outraged or preachy reaction from those who really love their credit cards, but I don’t care.

 

I don’t like credit cards. Call me old fashioned.

 

They charge high interest and they’re potentially dangerous (if you run up a high bill and an expense comes up that you need to pay for which means you can’t pay your credit card bill on time, you now are stuck with high-interest credit card debt).

 

Use a debit card if you need to.

[NO, NO, NO!!!!!  

……We cannot advise using a debit card  either because this amounts to being an interest free loan to a bank and often the consumer is charged activation fees for these cards on top of giving out an inbterest free loan…

…This is the biggest gimmick to come about in centuries… Clever marketing makes the debit card sound like a way to keep yourself from over spending, but the way that METABANK operates internally means that customers are kept from being able to access their own money when they really need it. Some have complained that they had to get a loan to even be able to pay routine monthly bills. METABANK is operating  a fraud on their customers. They lied to me about why they felt they should keep me from accessing my own cash money…. METABANK made themselves into the “PREPAID CARD POLICING SYSTEM.” However, it is METABANK who is doing a major scam…..

…All that we can do is to warn others not to use any kind of METABANK PRODUCT]

10. Pay all bills at the same time. It often just takes a simple call to get a vendor or creditor to change the due date on your bills. If you can get all your bills to be due on, let’s say, the 10th of the month, you can do all your bill paying at once. For some people, this will mean they will need to do a bit of scrimping to get ahead enough so that they can afford to make all their month’s payments at the beginning of the month, but it’s worth it. You can pay all your bills and be done with it.
[Because the product that METABANK, a PREPAID CARD, didn’t work at all from a consumer’s perspective for us and many others who complain regularly about how they have been kept from being able to access their own money once they gave METABANK cash money to place on a prepaid card, we feel compelled to alert other consumers that the METABANK PREPAID CARD isn’t good for customers/consumers.]