Probably not.

Anyone know if there is a lifetime limit on Netspends (i.e., not accounts open at once, but total accounts you can have)?

I'm very frustrated with my local Valero, which has very Friendly cashiers but an utter lack of good MS instruments. They have the starter packs for Netspend and PP Prepaid Debit (the latter charges another $5 fee to the acc. once you 'activate' it, atop the $4.95 purchase so I'd like to avoid it) and a whole crapton of OVs that cannot be activated (all of the various cashiers claim that OVs just don't work there and they have no idea why they even carry them; you can't even do it with cash; the system won't recognize it). However, its my only friendly gas station.

My current (and terrible) strategy has been to grab a NS, activate it, BP to Amex with the routing+acc number, and then close it. I'm on my 4th, which I've read somewhere (but I can't remember *where*) is the 'limit'; I'm wary of shutting this one down or buying a 5th with no way of activating it.

Any similar stories, or any advice as to what to do with this somewhat awkward situation? PMs are also welcomed.

I signed up for this since my local gas station has Netspend reloads and wanted to experiment with loading via CC. That didn't go so well but I did get this email:


Now that you know about NetSpend, how easy direct deposit is, and the thousands of convenient reload locations, you can help your friends and family take control of their money, too, by referring them. If they sign up and load a new card with at least $40, we'll say thanks by giving you both $20!1

Don’t miss out on your $20 payday. Add money to your card and start referring your friends today!


Decent consolation prize - I'm pretty sure I can sucker a few friends into signing up for this and loading $40 so we both get a free $20.

Netspend Reloadit
 

My local grocery store has recently started carrying Reloadit packs (the colored ones) with Netspend listed on top left corner. I have used the colored Reloadit packs, but without Netspend listed on it, to successfully load serve. Has anyone used these "branded" Reloadit packs to load serve or any other prepaid card, other than Netspend?

Have not personally used them but TMobile.

If I was shut down by Netspend 1 year ago, can I sign up again for a new one?

I'll take a refferal. I have good access to Reloadits, and don't want to put to much throught T-mobile. So what I've gotten from this thread is:
-Stay under 3500, definitely 5000 for the month
- ACH pull not so bad, bank transfer no bueno
- How about MO or bill pay? Any safer?

These are put out by Blackhawk, I believe, and I have seen them at one of my local groceries-- though they have them coded as cash-only, so my one attempt to purchase was shot down. I have another store nearby that does sell me PayPower cards with CC (despite stating cash only on the front), and this same store is identified as being a retailer of Reloadit packs, so perhaps they will arrive there soon.

Others have reported no problem loading Serve and BB with Blackhawk Reloadits, so they should work. For me, though, I have ample and easy access to WM for Serve loads via WM and Kate, so unless the Reloadits pose an additional, low-risk opportunity (as was the case with Green Dot MPs, where I could load those to PP the same way as PPMCs for an additional $4K per month), they don't hold a ton of interest for me.

Ya, mine did to. I've been wary of NS in the past, but now I'm interested since I've been maxing my accessible BBs for the last several months.

I guess I'll be the guinea on this one. I'll report on how it goes. My hope is to be able to unload about 2k/mo on this card. If anyone has experience or recs about his card and how to avoid shutdown on this bad boy I'd be interested. I don't mean to go hard, just want to supplement the BBs.

I bought three yesterday and loaded them, one after another, to my Serve card with no problems. They post to Serve as a cash load, so I believe you can do $2K a day, up to the $5K monthly limit.

I just ordered and received an Account Now pre-paid Visa with my name on it-- the pay-as-you go version with no monthly fees. I am going to try slowly ramping up with this card using ReloadIts and dumping via BP. Anyone else have experience with Account Now?

I don't think you can load Blue bird with reloadits?

There is a thread on AccountNow in this forum

Question: two months in a row I got emails from NS that my statement can be viewed online. It's about the savings account on my Paypal prepaid Mastercard. However, I can't log in to the link in the email. I managed to find out my username but I can't get to retreive a password (which I never set up in the first place). Tried several times the "retreive lost password" function where I have to enter all the card info and my social etc but I never get an email from them with a pw... Anyone having the same issue?

I got several texts from NS this morning...telling me that not only this card but my previous card (identifiable from last 4) were "stolen" and to log on for more info...went to log in and nothing found on my account. Anyone else having NS issues?

Did you login to the real NS site, or did you click on a link from the text msg that may have gone to a fake site that stole your login info? (I haven't heard anything about this, just saying it's possible)

No, went the normal way. Now can't retrieve user name or password.

Pretty sure it's a shutdown, but this isn't how they went about it last time.

Now to get the wife to call in since it's her name ;)

Lots of folks here with experience getting quickly shut down by Account Now. Another GreenDot-type bottom feeder company.

I can't find any info on this anywhere but I was just at HEB the other day (a grocery store chain in TX) and I noticed they sell a product called "HEB Netspend Visa Prepaid Card" and then right next to it they have "Netspend reload packs". I wondered if this could possibly be a good MS outlet. If the employees let me buy a reload pack with a CC that earns a grocery store bonus and then I loaded onto the Netspend prepaid card. Only thing I can't figure out is how to drain the funds from the Netspend card. There is very little info on the netspend website about Billpay but there does seem to be a billpay option.

Even if you've never heard of the HEB specific product i'm referring to can anyone give me some insight to the viability of Netspend prepaid products as an MS instrument?

oh and btw the reload packs are free which is one of the reasons it seemed so attractive

You do pulls from your NetSpend account. Go to your biller's website and set up NetSpend as a payment account by putting the route # and account number provided by NetSpend. Then pay your bill by pulling funds from NetSpend.

NetSpend gets upset and will lock your account if you only load $500 all the time and pay bills. They want their vig so you have to do some transactions so they get $1 every so often and don't load $500 all the time.

Gotcha. So the bill pay works just like a real bank issued debit card. And yeah it would be reasonable to load totally different amounts every time since the reload packs are free so no monetary incentive to always do $500.

You can't get Netspend reloads with a credit card at HEB. But the free reload is a good way to use VGCs. In theory you can go to either a cashier or the money center but in practice cashier's don't always know how to do it. They aren't supposed to let you load with a gift card, but only some of them care enough to look at your card.

The few HEB's I shop at are all cash or debit only for all gift cards, even restaurant type. They used to sell their store gift cards for credit but stopped 3 years ago.

NetSpend PIN
 

I need help!

Several days ago I decided to get into the MS game again (it was on hold for several months due to a severe shortage of ReloadIT cards here in NE :)). I purchased the first set of cards that I found in local grocery store - NetSpend cards.

As it turns out, NetSpend seems to require SSN for US citizens. Even though I was able to assign the PIN number by phone, I could not activate the card without speaking to a 'customer representative'. Since I had no desire to give them my SSN, I hanged up. I did try to make a purchase afterwards, hoping that the card did get activated. Unfortunately, when I swiped and entered then PIN number, I got the message 'Not Authorized'.

To make a long story short - I now have 10 NetSpend cards (500$ each, of course) that I need to cash out. I have no desire to activate each of them using my SSN - I just want to assign a pin and be able to use them to buy MO's.

Can anyone let me know how to activate NetSpend cards without SSN? Please? :)

Netspend
 

Ask for a refund. Perhaps you misunderstood the abilities of the card.

Hopefully, other newbies will learn from your experience NEVER, EVER buy huge amounts like this unless they've tried a particular instrument at least once or twice. May this serve as warning to others before they go on a buying spree w/o making plans on how to liquidate should something go wrong. For those just starting, best to test with small amounts first.

as to solution for this, I'd go with what Credipig said. You may have to call them to ask for a refund but be prepared to go back and forth with them (waste a lot of time) because it won't take just one call to get your refund. Check feedback/reviews about GD to know other people's experiences in dealing with them. Hopefully, you have $5K as float to pay your CC bills so you don't have to pay fees/interests on them. Good luck!

oh brother!

NEPony above is good way out.

Alternately you can offer your friends and relatives the $500 value card at a discount. Calculate at rounded off 2 cents a mile for what you earned and discount accordingly. also prepay / overpay large bills AFTER making sure they refund the overages !

Those are good suggestions HMPS but I re-read the OP and this will be a major obstacle to even use the GCs as CCs:

UNLESS cards are activated, they can't be used as payment so that if let's say, insurance company is willing to accept CCs for auto/home premiums, these unactivated cards will not go through.

NEPony may not have other options but call and speak to a rep. Hopefully, the rep is cooperative and willing to help.

Can't you talk to rep and get a refund?

any update???

Update
 

Update regarding my 'situation' with NetSpend cards.

First thing I did is I went back to grocery chain where I bought the cards. As expected, they said that they don't refund any gift or reloadable cards. I expected as much, but figured I would try this as it would be the easiest way to get the money back.

Then, researching these cards further, I uncovered an interesting tidbit - non-US residents can obtain this card as well, by registering with appropriate ID - driver's license or passport.

To make a long story short, I have activated four of the cards using NetSpend web site, applying as a non-US resident (which is indeed my case - I am here on a visa :) ). My card got activated, with the caveat that within a month I need to fax a copy of passport/drivers license etc. As I don't plan on keeping these cards, I will skip this particular step. As a side note, I don't think the site actually validates name/address/document # :)

I already used these cards to load BB, proving that the approach works.

So, hope this helps others who might find themselves in the similar situation :)

How did you register with other id? Online or via the phone?

I found a cool place that will let me buy reload with a CC. However, when the lady swipes the reload carton on what looks like a debit card reader with a number pad and chooses $400 she gets a print out saying "Transaction Rejected"? Any idea how to help her activate that reload card? Thanks

Netspend charges
 

Bought a $400 Netspend visa card.
Nube questions, direct me to Netspend wiki if there is one, I couldn't find it.
If I unload it, should I unload it for $398 as there is a $2 fee?
Does card default to Pay-As-You-Go plan?
No way to select plan when I activated card that I saw.
To avoid account maintenance fee, do you just cancel card after you unload it?
Better to just buy new card than try to reload?
Thanks for the help!

Hi all, I'm new to the netSpend card. Im sure this has been answered before, but can u pay credit card bills using the funds from netspend account? If yes whats the fee.

Thanks

If you load and dump or have high amounts per transaction and pay off your CCs, you will be shut down before you can count to 3. NetSpend is for doing tons of very small transactions Its target isnt someone with a CC its someone who cant get a CC. Load too much and you will shut down and they will hold the funds till you get the FDIC on their backs.Im talking from experience

Thanks for the quick reply. Doesn't seem too useful for my purpose (meeting min spends on new ccs). Since I already have it now I guess i'll just load small amounts every 3 months to avoid the account maintenance fee. Withdraw it all at once and close the account

Are there any shut down risks if I buy Netspend Reload Packs to load my Netspend account? Just looking to add money up to 5k to max up the savings bonus.

did you find out this answer? i'm at 1500 and cannot load anymore.

If you're in TX you can reload at most (if not all) HEB's with a debit card.