topic Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card in Credit Cards

SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 00:38:34 GMT

I got a very strange email from green dot bank regarding my platinum secured card. Here it is word for word.

"Thank you for your recent payment for your Green Dot Credit Card Account. Your payment has been received and posted to your account.

In order for your payment to be reflected in your available credit, we must validate that you are the owner of the account that you used to make that payment. If you have not previously validated your account, please send a bank statement or a voided check clearly showing your name and the account number for the account used to make this payment to pymtvalidationcc@greendotbank.com or you may fax it to 609-683-1279. Upon receipt, we will notify you if any additional information is needed. Your available credit WILL NOT BE INCREASED until we have confirmed proof of your account ownership, which may take up to 10 days after we receive your bank account information.

If you do not respond to this request, your account will be restricted from further use.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this request.

Sincerely,

Green Dot Bank
Credit Card Department"

Seems ULTRA scammy no?? Well I googled the fax number and the email address. I found the whole email word for word in the cardholder agreement PDF for this card. The fax number was also formerly tied to Primor Bank which used to hold this card before green dot. So I did what they said and replied back with my bank statement showing what they are asking for. NEVER heard of this before though. Why do they care who owns the account making the payments on the card? Seems super fishy. We will be keeping an eye on our checking account going forward for the near future. But I wanted to put this out there so others that google this, might find this and know its probably legit. At least seemed to be from what I could find on google. And all of the evidence from google was from the actual green dot bank sites I sign into to make payments and up the limit and such. Wish me luch...lol

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 00:46:28 GMT

Here's the cardholder agreement from their site. The text from this email is in there. Am I being paranoid?

https://www.platinum.greendot.com/GREEN/Secured_Card_Agreement_7_9_19.pdf

"Credit Availability. (a) General Rules. Subject to this Section, payments on your Credit Account and changes to your Credit Limit will change the amount of your Available Credit. This Section describes when your Credit Account payments will be credited for purposes of your Available Credit. Crediting of payments Secured Credit Card Agreement for purposes of your scheduled payment obligations is described in “Receipt and Crediting of Payments” in Section 11, below. (b) Certain Payments from Your Bank Account. Subject to this Section 9(b) and for purposes of your Available Credit only, the following payments you make on your Credit Account will increase your Available Credit within 8 to 12 calendar days after we receive the payment: (i) Single or recurring automatic payments from your bank account you schedule by logging on to our website at www.greendot.com/platinum. (ii) Single or recurring automatic payments from your bank account you authorize by telephone using our Telephone Customer Service to speak to a live Customer Service representative. We will charge you a fee to make these live Customer Service phone payments unless you request the payment to be made in the future (see “Fees” in Section 16, below). (iii) Single payments from your bank account you authorize by telephone using our interactive voice response (IVR) system without speaking to a live Customer Service representative. Recurring, automatic payments may not be scheduled using the IVR. For any of the above payments, and for debit card and credit card payments described in Section 9(c) below, we may require you to help us to confirm that the payment is being made from an account that you own. Whether we require this will depend on various factors, including the length of your relationship with us.

To confirm ownership of your account, you MUST send a bank statement (or credit card statement, if making your payment from your credit card) or a voided check for your bank account clearly showing your name and the account number for the account to be charged to pymtvalidationcc@greendotbank.com or you may fax it to 609-683-1279. Your payment will post to your Credit Account effective the date we receive it (if that is before 5 p.m. Eastern Time on a Business Day), but your Available Credit WILL NOT BE INCREASED until we have confirmed proof of your bank or credit card account ownership, which may take up to 10 days after we receive your bank account information."

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

ChargedUp — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 01:05:23 GMT

I've never heard of a lender legitimately requesting such info via email... This doesn't seem right?

Did you call the number on the back of your Green Dot card and speak to a CSR to confirm legitimacy? This is something I would not comply with unless I had absolute proof of where the info was heading. Even then, I'd probably take my business elsewhere as this type of info should never be requested via email in the first place. If you want my attention to a matter, ask me to sign into my account and then make the request there within the issuing banks web interface.

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 01:08:54 GMT

Yeah I called the customer service number. They are closed this evening. I will try again tomorrow, but I have had this card for a short while. Its been rock solid. And I had it before a few years ago when they were primor and got bought out by green dot. I had it for two years back then. Effed up my credit, and I had to start over again with a secured card. So I went back to them. I dont remember having to do this before the last time I had one, but I never had any issues with this one. Its been secured with my money for a few months, and I have been using it and paying it off pretty much weekly. And like I said, I found all that info in the card holder agreement word for word. The fax and email matched perfectly. So no idea. Seems weird, but Im going with it I guess...

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

CreditInspired — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 01:21:44 GMT

Click on from email address to see if the sender is actually greendot. And it should NOT be something like jackolantern.greendot.validate@gmail.com.

I agree with ChargedUp. There's no way I would do anything via an email that's not in my online secured account.

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

Jannelo — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 03:23:44 GMT

I can't remember the exact email I once received from Green Dot, but it was about verifying my identity regarding a payment. I was confused. I went to my bank account. I had made the payment via my debit card for my bank account. In my Ambien haze late one night, I decided to make a payment. I put 11,00 instead of 11.00, paying off the full balance. The computer didn't recognize the comma, and inputted it as eleven hundred dollars. I almost had a heart attack when I saw $1,100 pending from my bank account. I got ahold of them the next day. They were recognizing it as an added amount to my security deposit but flagged it. She assured me it never would have gone through without my going through the verification process. It was never taken out of my account.

So maybe not so shady but being cautious about something that put up a red flag for them. I wouldn't send them anything over the internet either without first talking to a CR.

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 03:26:41 GMT

I would have called before sending any docs but that's just me. I once had an auto loan that wanted trial deposits before letting you ACH payments but that seemed legit.

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

AspiringDink1991 — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 08:23:43 GMT

May I ask if you were ever able to get ahold of a person, I've tried contacting them many times throughout yesterday and cant seem to get out of the automated system Limbo. It's almost as though there is no way to get in touch with a Human with the number that is on the back of the card, and their website seriously lacks in ability to manage account. I'm trying to close my account but I guess they have my money for good, if you cant get ahold of them you cant close your account I guess.

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

Jnbmom — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 08:32:17 GMT

I agree with the others, I would call NEVER send any sensitive information to an email without knowing it is actaully them.

Re: SUPER sketchy email from Green Dot Platinum Secured card

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 08:43:17 GMT

That email address and phone number both show up in the terms on their website as well as that block of text.

https://www.platinum.greendot.com/GREEN/Secured_Card_Agreement_7_9_19.pdf