Warning Signs of Bad Financial Advice:
#1 They Rush You
You meet the advisor who says there’s a deadline on the investment. Our expert says “There is NO investment out there that you have to rush in — especially today. They are a salesperson and not a financial advisor.”
[META BANK would be a sales pitch first and foremost.
META BANK is not able to protect consumers nor have they actually sought to explore consumer’s needs in reality. Where is META BANK’s ACTION PLAN? ….
…..META BANK spews empty promises without any change in the way they actually plan to treat consumers….. This is obvious to me as a former customer of META BANK and one who was scammed by META BANK…
…..META BANK lied to me which is like #1 above where the client is being lied to simply to make the sale. META BANK’s publicity is compelling. Of course, it is also misleading customers so that we believe that we are getting a product that is safer than carrying cash….
….. Prepaid Bank Cards are NOT safer than carrying cash in two ways:
#1 Many places don’t accept them and
#2 META BANK can put a hold on your money according to their own needs, NOT YOURS!!!!]
#2 They Don’t Tell You How They’re Paid
There is a cost associated with any investment that you make. It is most likely that you will pay the advisor’s fee, load or commission. The advisor needs to be clear on what it’s going to cost you.
[META BANK’s prepaid card, a travel card, was promoted as being safer than carrying cash. When it was sold to me, I wasn’t told how META BANK would make money off of me as their customer.
….If they had shared this information with me, it would have been clear to me that keeping my own cash money in my own control was the only viable choice for me….
…. This may have been the only mistake that I made as a consumer….
….. On the other hand, META BANK should have made it very clear how they planned to make money and they didn’t do this…. This is how they scammed me.]
#3 They Want To Put Everything In One Investment
“Be very wary if your financial advisor wants you to put all or most of your money into one single investment. You should diversify your money…. You don’t want to put money above FDIC limits, or state guaranty limits on annuities.”
[META BANK has created a new area when they created prepaid bank cards. No outside rules seem to be in place to protect consumers from META BANK or any bank that operates like META BANK. META BANK writes all the rules governing their prepaid bank cards and the consumer has no rights in the pre-made contract that you are simply expected sign as it was written by META BANK… This PREPAID CARTD INDUSTRY is a rule changer and by keeping consumers ignorant and by misleading us with false promises, META BANK has perpetrated one of the biggest scams on the greatest number of people I have ever heard about.
META BANK seeks employees who can work in a fast paced and rapidly changing environment. META BANK isn’t seeking employees who are honest and trustworthy who have strong moral principles. Look at the ads where META BANK seeks employees…. META BANK also tends to scam their low paid employees too, but that isn’t my concern here. …
….META BANK relies on our own customer lack of knowledge in an environment where they are creating all of the rules while retaining the right the change the rules at any time without notice. This is all to META BANK’s advantage but not to the customer’s benefit..
….and META BANK lies quite boldly about what they are doing….
… META BANK blames the customer for any problems that customers may bring to their attention. This practice is part of the design of META BANK’s scam…
…..META BANK is actually a collections agency that needs partner companies to push their prepaid card for them. The partner company is wined and dined and convinced that the prepaid cards are good for them and their customers so when they present the prepaid cards to their own customer base, the partner company can do it with an honest face…. because they don’t yet know they are being used to create the scam, META BANK’s same old scam but with a new name and some new publicity surrounding it.]
#4 They Want To Meet With You Alone
Your advisor needs to understand you and your partner’s financial emotions. If you’re married, have a life partner or are responsible for someone else’s finances, the advisor should never want to talk to you alone.
Our expert says, “Any advisor that wants to see you alone – something is wrong.”
[For investing money this is true…. META BANK has put a new spin on this: META BANK wants to keep customers distant. META BANK spent a lot of web space promoting the virtues of banking online or by using machines.
Talking to a real person at META BANK is problematic. They are impossible to reach. They put you on long holds. They lie to you. They pass you from agent to agent. They push the blame off onto the consumer. They have no intention of serving your real needs as their customer.
In their publicity, on the other hand, META BANK appears to have created a specific PREPAID BANK CARD that serves a variety and a multitude of needs. In reality, META BANK only offers the exact same service all of the time.
And META BANK’s customer service isn’t service but it is a real scam.]
#5 They Don’t Ask About Your Needs
For example, your advisor suggests what you should invest without asking you questions such as – do you have credit card debt? Are you healthy? Is your job secure? Do you want to buy a home? Do you have will? Do you have a trust? Do you need a new car?, etc.,.
Your advisor needs to know if it makes sense for you invest or first take care of your needs.
[META BANK scammed the BOESEN family by not doing their own credit check. After BOESEN committed suicide, META BANK went to court to get all of his assets…. BOESEN’s wife/widow hadn’t signed for the loans; she was unaware of the loans. META BANK said that BOESEN had presented false papers to get more and more loans. META BANK was pushing all the blame off onto BOESEN… Actually, I believe that META BANK knew exactly how many loans that BOESEN had and that META BANK was waiting to cash in on the high interest rates…. META BANK knew exactly what they were doing.
At the time of Boesen’s death, in the Des Moines Newspaper, characters that even looked like loan sharks said that they hated Boesen and that he deserved to die…. What??? That is a very strange thing to say when a man has just committed suicide and left a widow… These same people also were unkind to Boesen’s wife who needed to work to survive; they criticized her for being in public working… Something is very wrong with that kind of thought process…. I was totally shocked by what those people wrote to the Des Moines Register…
Then Payoneer, a branch of META BANK in Israel, sold 26 prepaid cards to people who presented false documents to get those prepaid cards. Payoneer advertised that they had the world’s best technology in place to prevent anyone from presenting them with false ID’s…. Then 26 different people succeeded in getting prepaid cards using false names, and the names of living people, when they all flew to Dubai where they assassinated some man.
Some news reports indicated that the assassinated man wasn’t a nice person; one man was never given a fair and impartial trial before he was executed. The death was supposed to look like, oddly enough, a suicide, but the police in Dubai figured out quickly that this was a murder.
META BANK said that they didn’t know that all of those 26 people were using fake ID’s…. I find that to be most unusual… Yes, it is a lie. You and I know that, but META BANK wants us to believe something else. A newly hired META BANK employee was sent to speak with the international press. I found this to be of interest. She would be able to lie for META BANK and not know she was lying; nothing on her face would be perceived as being insincere.
I cashed out my META BANK card after one trip; META BANK mailed me a check to my home address. Then I went to reload it with $5,000 before another trip. The partner company where i went to reload my META BANK PREPAID CARD phoned META BANK. That META BANK representative had my file opened up on her computer as she spoke to the local partner company representative. That representative never indicated that they couldn’t reload an empty card. Later META BANK would also say that I had an over drawn amount of something like $23.00 on the card so they couldn’t reload the card. META BANK said they reloaded the other card ( and not the one I had with me upon which I had signed my name on the back) although the terms of the agreement were that both cards would be loaded at the same time.
META BANK had my address when they sent me the cash out check. That check would have been in my file and in their files of cashed checks. My address was on that check. META BANK told me that I had never given them my address. To get the card in the first place, I was required to give META BANK my address. Also as a 24 year customer of the partner company, the partner company would have had my operable address.
The long and the short of the story is that
META BANK LIES
META BANK HAS ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN THE WELL-BEING OR THE GENERAL WELFARE OF OTHERS; META BANK ONLY WANTS TO MAKE MONEY FOR THEMSELVES.
OR META BANK IS EXTREMELY INCOMPETENT, BUT SINCE THEY ALWAYS MAKE MONEY OFF OF THEIR CUSTOMERS, IT APPEARS THAT IT IS BY DESIGN HOW META BANK KEEPS SCAMMING THEIR CUSTOMER BASE.]
#6 They Don’t Have Answers To Questions Or Concerns
Beware if your advisor doesn’t get you the information you request about an investment. They should answer any questions that you have about how you’re investing your money.
[Our expert is talking about investing money and not about PREPAID BANK CARDS.
META BANK began by serving the underbanked which they promote as something wonderful that they are doing for the general public. META BANK has found a way to make lots of money for themselves in a new format. META BANK has never put customers first in the way they have actually treated their customers.
META BANK appears to have created various organizations, including non-profits, to promote their prepaid bank cards and even their service to the underbanked.
META BANK’s focus on the underbanked is nothing but a scam. META BANK doesn’t care about their customers. META BANK treated me in a derisive and disrespectful manner.
Why lie to me? Why lie to me about so many things? Then they did it again to another person I knew; they told him that he hadn’t used their card properly. I saw him present the card to merchants who absolutely refused to take META BANK’s PREPAID TRAVEL CARD…. trust me that was very telling about how META BANK operates. Their reputation precedes them.
META BANK wanted to tell me that they didn’t load my card because perhaps I had lost it… What?????
I told them that I had never reported it as being lost or stolen…. My complaint was that META BANK took $5000.00 USD from me and held it for their own use when I needed it for travel. All of META BANK’s publicity indicating that their prepaid cards are safer than carrying cash is hot air, words that carry no meaning behind them.
It is how META BANK acts toward their customers over and over again that upsets me as a consumer.
META BANK tries to push all blame for any problem that consumers find with the card off onto someone else. This is also a form of lying and part of their scam. META BANK keeps doping the same scam over and over again.
META BANK did not address my concerns. Instead they set out to push blame off on me, my spouse and the partner company. META BANK made no changes in how they treated customers after I had complained to them.
Part of their scam is to keep us, as their customers, at a distance from them. Mostly customers are allowed to access them online or through a third party, being the partner company.
META BANK DID NOT TAKE MY CONCERNS AND MY PROBLEMS SERIOUSLY….. This is a serious problem because online, I saw that META BANK had treated many more in the same manner. When I learned that META BANK sought out the most financially and economically vulnerable citizens as their primary source of income, I was really upset.
As consumers, we still need to be protected from the unscrupulous actions of META BANK. META BANK Can create all the flowery and impressive publicity that they may choose, but when it comes down to the bottom line how META BANK fails to serve their customers is absolutely disgusting.
META BANK is spending far too much time self-congratulating themselves…. If they still are treating customers badly, all that kind of fake publicity is meaningless.
Look at META BANKS real actions. Talk to META BANKs real customers. Then you will truly see META BANK for what it is; this is a pathologically criminal mindset, especially when it comes to how META BANK has abused the most vulnerable in our society.]
#7 Legitimate Monthly Statements
Our expert indicates that “Your advisor should send you a monthly statement summarizing all that month’s transactions, including deposits, withdrawals, and current positions held. This statement must come directly from the brokerage firm that’s holding your money, not from your adviser’s office.”
META BANK prides itself on being a “thrift bank.” “Thrift Bank” means that META BANK would tell me that I hadn’t given them my mailing address when I had received a cash out check from them at my home address.
“Thrift Bank” means that META BANK can and does change the rules without notifying you as their customer. This is something that the partner company that sold me the META BANK PREPAID CARD should have known about before agreeing to push the META BANK PREPAID CARD for them.
META BANK representatives told me that even if they had my address, they wouldn’t have contacted me by mail…
…META BANK is not customer service oriented. It appears from the actions of META BANK over years and years that META BANK hasn’t change the way they treat their customer base. As customers of META BANK, we are expected to provide them with a steady income and we will be abused and lied to in exchange for this money… That is how META BANK has acted repeatedly over a period of years…
… and I haven’t seen any indication that META BANK plans to change their actions or their product.
Don’t read META BANK’s publicity because it is designed to “hook you in” as their sucker and money source. Look at how META BANK actually operates…
#8 They Don’t Send You Quarterly & Annual Reports
Our expert says: “You should receive quarterly and annual reports from your advisor. These reports explain the return your advisor is getting on your investments, as well as all fees and commissions. The figures on his/her report must match the report that is generated directly from the brokerage firm.
These reports should illustrate all the realized gains or losses (all the money you actually made or lost from selling an investment) and all the unrealized gains and losses (investments you own but have not yet sold and thus that have not yet realized a profit or loss). These reports should also include returns of the overall index. You want everything on paper.”
[The phone number on the back of the META BANK PREPAID CARD wouldn’t work from Europe although it was sold as a “Travel Card”…
I wasn’t given even a copy of the contract that I was making with META BANK by their partner company. I was given a one page glossy brochure, but that really didn’t explain how I would be treated by META BANK.
Even when the partner company phoned META BANK to ask about how to reload their card, we were being misled. META BANK took my money, but never made my own cash money accessible to me for the month that I was out of the country. The META BANK representative had asked when I would be leaving and where I would be going, but it turns out that this was only part of META BANK’s scam.
META BANK uses the PREPAID BANK CARD as a way to keep people from gaining access to their own money. META BANK’s publicity portrays a far different image from what the real experience was like in dealing with them.
After I was scammed, I then discovered all of those previous complaints against META BANK for years and years before they scammed me.
META BANK’s operations and actions are fraudulent. META BANK practices are more predatory. META BANK cons people into giving them money which they can use without paying any interest on what amounts to a loan for META BANK.
Look at the CD SCAM that META BANK was doing to other banks!!!! This is the real META BANK. META BANK may actually be providing you with a credit card through a place of business that you know so you may already have a META BANK CARD and not even know it.
#9 Advisor Wants A Check Directly Made Out To Him/Her
META BANK will only take cash money. They will not accept checks when you go to buy one of their PREPAID BANK CARDS.
If META BANK will only take cash, they you should only pay using cash. Do not use a PREPAID BANK CARD because you are giving away all the control of your own cash money to a total stranger, and META BANK has set up all the rules in their favor.
META BANK will use your cash money for their own financial gain; META BANK is taking advantage of you.
You should be paying in cash when you buy things. Don’t use an intermediary such as META BANK and especially one that is as unscrupulous as META BANK. Why make a total stranger rich? Especially when that total stranger, who lives in Iowa, no less, plans to take advantage of you….. Sad because META BANK really gives the State of Iowa a very bad name!!!!!!
# 10 They Don’t Inform You Of Changes
Wow! This is the basic and underlying premise of how META BANK does business. They indicate that they will make changes with out notice to their customers….
…..Why would anyone hand over real cash money to META BANK when up front they have told the partner company that they don’t plan to inform their customers of any changes in the plan their customers are agreeing to when they hand over their cash money to be loaded onto a META BANK CARD….. This may be the most key factor of META BANK’s on-going scamming practices; it is the change in the rules midway through any agreement that makes META BANK an impossible entity to deal with as a consumer.
META BANK SIMPLY DOESN’T DESIGN A PREPAID BANK CARD THAT GENUINE SERVES THE NEEDS OF CONSUMERS EVEN IF META BANK SAYS THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE ALL ABOUT, THEIR ACTIONS PROVE THE CONTRARY
Go to your local library and read: The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman
“With over 3 million copies sold, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom is personal finance classic that changes the way we think, feel, and act about money. Originally published 15 years ago, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom broke new ground in personal finance by approaching money from a spiritual and emotional point of view. More invaluable in our trying financial times than ever, one-woman powerhouse Suze Orman’s advice leads readers through nine simple steps to reclaim their power and embrace her philosophy: you are worth more than your money. This refreshed edition includes a new preface and updated information about the modern world of money management.”
– THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
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