GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Amber Delmont said she's a loyal Green Dot customer. She's been using the prepaid debit cards for over a year and said it's convenient.
She has two cards, and her paychecks are directly deposited onto one of them. Delmont can also load money on at a convenience store.
She said it's more convenient than a bank. But like any debit card, it has security checkpoints. She is asked for her social security number when she loads money onto the cards. Just last week, she said she hit a snag when she put her tax refund onto the cards.
"[I] went to go to the store yesterday, and my card declined," she recalled.
She said when she called to access her Green Dot card she was told her account "has been locked out."
Here’s the message she gets when trying to access her card information:
"A review of your card activity has resulted in a decision to close your card. You will no longer be able to reload your card. Any attempt to add money to your card will be rejected including direct deposits."
The message went on to say that Delmont would no longer be able to open any new accounts with Green Dot.
The only option she was given was to press "1" to acknowledge this.
However, she likes the service and doesn't want to give it up. She thinks the company's system is now penalizing her for depositing a larger amount with her tax refund even though she's legit.
"It's my money. I work 40 hours a week. Plus, I take care of 5 kids," Delmont said.
She said the company already started closing one card. The other card remained locked. Delmont has called customer service.
"They're giving me the runaround. I ask to speak to a supervisor. They won't transfer me. They continue to hang up on me," she said.
So she called the FOX 17 Problem Solvers. Watch the video to find out what happens.
Also, the company issued this statement to FOX 17:
"Green Dot Bank works diligently to protect the US Government and innocent tax payers from being victimized by tax fraud and stolen IDs. As such, Green Dot regularly monitors all its accounts for unusual activity that indicates potential tax fraud. When such an indicator is triggered, the account is blocked until a Green Dot fraud specialist makes contact with the account holder to verify the legitimacy of the deposit. Once we determine that the refund deposit is legitimate, the account is immediately unblocked. Each year, Green Dot saves states and our federal government millions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds and protects millions of Americans from being victimized by stolen IDs."
