Complaint Review: Walmart Money Card - Nationwide

I have a walmart money card that I have used as a primary account to pay bills.  Due to my experience in the regulatory industry, I am very careful regarding my account information and change my pin on a regular basis and do not allow anyone to have access to my account information.

On March 9, 2014, I tried to use my money card to pay for groceries at Walmart.  the transaction would not process even though I had several hundred dollars on the account.  We tried to process it 3 times as a debit transaction and twice as a credit.  The store manager came over, with security and asked that I move to the customer service desk.  This was very unnerving for me, as I have never been in this situation before.  While walking over to the desk with security psching my cart of unpaid items, I received a call from the Green Dot customer service center advising me of potential fraud.  Again, being concerned about my secure information, I asked for a number to call her back because it came up on my phone as unavailable and how was I to know who I was truly speaking with.  She provided me her number and I called back and was eventually transferred to her.  I explained the situation and she asked that they try to run the transaction on another cash register, this did not work.  She then asked that I go to the ATM and try to withdraw money.  Again, it was delcined and each time it dprovided me a different code, which was confusing to the customer service specialist.  I finally had to walk out and leave my groceries.

Upon returning home, I called the customer service center and was advised that there had been some issues with their servicing company and Green Dot was moving to a new provider and this process would be completed no later than 2 pm EST and they asked that I be patient.  After 2 pm, my funds were available and I was able to complete my shopping and pay my bills.

On May 15, 2014, I tried to put gas in my car, again having several hundred dollars on the account, only to have this declined.  I immediately check my online balance and find all my money is gone and I have a zero balance.  Someone went shopping several states away in Dallas, Texas at the family dollar store and ran multiple transactions, as credit transactions, on my card 7 minutes apart.  Again, I immediatley call customer service and I am advised that they are flagging my account with a fraud alert and because the transactions were still pending, they would be reversed immediately and my money refunded to me.  This occurred the following day, then the next day the transactions were reversed and posted as permanent debits to my account.

Again, I immediately called and filed a dispute and was advised I had to submit it in writing and they would take 7 to 10 days to review the information and if they felt an investigation was warranted, it could take 60 to 90 days.  Being in the regulatory industry, I know that any written credit card dispute must be investigated within 30 to 45 days with a written response to the consumer.  I also conducted research and found quite a bit of information regarding security breaches with this organization that occurred in late April, early May 2014, with the breach originating in England.  This led me to file a complaint this morning with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that investigates credit providers on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission.  I am providing this information for anyone else that might be a victim and doesn't know what to do.