Troubleshooting Your Prepaid Card
When your prepaid card isn’t working, it may feel like there’s a big problem. After all, prepaid cards are often used for day to day expenses, and not being able to access your funds can be a financial headache. Before throwing in the towel and resorting to other forms of payment, however, here are a few troubleshooting tips to help you get to the bottom of your prepaid card problem:
Check the Balance
The first thing to do when your prepaid card is not working is to check the balance. Some prepaid cards may become inactive if the balance drops below a certain limit. Fortunately, it’s easy to check the balance of your prepaid card. Most companies will either send you a emailed or text message alert when your balance is low, or you can use an online account to check the balance and add additional funds.
Look for Inactive Cards
Prepaid card may also become inactive if they haven’t been used in a while. If it’s been a while since you last used the card, your card might be inactive. Most prepaid card companies require regular activity, so if you haven’t used the card for weeks or months at a time, the card might be blocked. Cards that are inactive for long periods can be reactivated by calling customer service and verifying your identity.
Check the Card Details
When your card isn’t working, also double-check the card’s details. It’s easy to accidentally use the wrong PIN or enter the wrong expiration date when rushing through a purchase. To prevent this from happening, make sure all the card details, including the card number and expiration date, are correct.
Check for Spending Limits
In some cases, prepaid cards may have limits on how much you can spend within a certain period of time, or there may be a limit for how much you can spend on a single purchase. If you’ve exceeded any of these limits, the card may be temporarily blocked until the limit is reset. Be sure to check the prepaid card agreement you received when you activated the card to determine if any of these spending limits apply to you.
Contact Customer Service
Finally, don’t forget to call customer service if you’re having trouble with your prepaid card. The customer service representative will be able to help you identify and troubleshoots the problem and suggest a resolution.
By following the steps outlined above, you’ll be able to quickly identify and fix the problem so that you can get back to using your card!