I know that this will probably just get lost in the shuffle of the Mueller hearings, but wanted to spread the word.
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So just a warning to anyone that might be interested in purchasing US Bank's prepaid mastercards, commonly sold at Kroger stores and their affiliates at the very least (Smiths/Frys/Kroger/Bakers etc), and are in a 'gold' wrapper.
These cards are subject to fraudulent use, if someone obtains the card number before purchase (ie removing them from the store, unsealing them, copying the card number, resealing them, and replacing them back in the store. Once that card is activated, that person can take ownership of that card, defrauding the purchaser of the funds.
I purchased 3 of their prepaid mastercards in March, planned to use them for travel. I attempted to use them in June, but upon being declined, found out that all three cards had been registered online fraudulently in someone else's name.
I have complied with all of their documentation requests, including my ID, transaction log from the store in lieu of receipt (who keeps receipts for 3 months), pictures of all three cards, etc. Starting in early June, I submitted that documentation at least 6 times via fax, and another time via USMAIL, but they seem to lose that documentation. These are handled by their ‘offline team’, who apparently cannot be contacted by anyone in the company, as I’ve been told numerous times by their agents and supervisors. They will not reissue the cards in my name, even with reasonable proof of purchase, so I am out hundreds of dollars, and they are knowingly perpetuating fraud by not investigating who registered these cards online.
I bought these cards with the hopes that they would be safer than using my personal cards for travel, obviously not. Until they change their program to prevent this kind of upfront fraud, I cannot in any way recommend their prepaid products.