Payoneer Payoneer prepaid visa Exorbitant fees, excessive fees, punitive fees, Internet

It's like paying pay day loan fees on your own card.

I read in a speech from the CEO of Amex that "they've tried no fees options and it never drives volume." "Customers in this segment seem to have no sensitivity to paying high fees." This is how he justified the fees they charge even on their latest product, the Bluebird card.

Perhaps this is because we have a serious lack of financial literacy in this country. That doesn't excuse preying on consumers (especially this particularly vulnerable segment) in the name of making profit. In a dream world shareholders would dump Amex stock after a comment like this and push them to do the responsible thing and just make a sustainable, fair, profit. Unforuntately that time has not come yet.

A logical parallel would be cigarette companies saying: "we've tried carcinogen free versions of cigarettes, but it never drives volume. And all things being equal our margins are higher on the cancer causing cigarettes so we continue to sell those. We are just responding to the market forces in the industry."

I would hope most of us would be outraged if we saw this commentary from a cigarette company. But in both cases, Payoneer with the fees on prepaid cards, and a cigarette company chooising to stick with the carcinogen laden product, in both cases because making a more customer friendly option "didn't drive volume." Both cases are ignoring the societal costs that don't actually hit the company in questions bottom line.

If Payoneer eats away the last remnants of savings a person has and they go on welfare, it doesn't cost Payoneer anything. If the person doesn't have enough money to fix their car because they don't have a bank account and Payoneer takes 30% of their net pay with their fees so the person gets fired, no skin of Payoneers back. But society has to help these people, and thus we all bear the costs.

It's even easier to see the smoking parallel here, a person gets cancer, it doesn't cost a cigarette company anything but a customer, who they have already extracted a huge amount of value from. But then society has to deal with taking care of any dependents, paying the medical bills of that person, the usage of healthcare resources that then drives up the price for everyone else, and so on. At least the legislature / judiciary finally did something about that and made the cigarette companies pay a penalty for this indirect cost that they offloaded on society as a whole.

I am embarassed for you that you would come on this forum and even defend this consumer exploitation.

 Before you respond please use common sense.

You were asking about the LEGALITY of the situation.  That is exactly what you got..that they are 100% legal. 

Also, if you actually read the link to the report you gave you would find out that they want an inquiry as to these cards being used to pay hourly employees...NOT people who receive credits.  So even if in their investigation they find it is wrong..it does NOT apply to your case.

And once again..this is why it is YOUR responsibility to read and understand the terms(including the fees) of any of these types of cards.

Hi Zac,

I'm sorry that you are not satisfied with Payoneer as a solution for your recent trip deposit. Please note that for all trips, e-mail communications are sent in which you are notified of the following:

• Deposit confirmation
• Deposit refund instructions, including details related to the Payoneer card and associated charges
• Deposit refund confirmation
• Links to access your Payoneer online account
• A full transaction list showing all fees/charges applied

I'd be more than happy to check your specific account and attempt to resolve the issue. If you could please send me the e-mail address that you signed up with, to nissimal@payoneer.com, I would be able to check the account and assist you further.

Please use common sense before responding. Because it is "legal" for the rip off Payoneer to take 28% of someone's money via fees. It is also legal for payday lenders to charge annualize interest rates well over 100%, and sometimes over 1000%. Ideal for them is when they trap someone in an endless cycle where all they can afford to pay is the interest, and they just have to keep borrowing from the payday lender to live. Then they are guaranteed to take over half of someone's take home pay while he or she struggles to pay rent, bills, and feed a family. Of course it is "legal" for these companies to do this. But if this is your only argument, I think it is pretty pathetic. Fortunately, the US senate agrees with me

http://www.nytimes.com/skimmer/#/Business//dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/16-senators-seek-inquiry-of-a-t-m-style-pay-cards/

and is discussing legislation to limit the ability of these prepaid cards to charge such absurd fees. I look forward to the class-action lawsuit being filed against Payoneer for these practices someday.

 But the fees you were charged are totally legal and if you want to get down to it..it is your fault for the fees.

Every pre-paid card has fees..that is how they make their money.  Many will have inactivity fees of a few dollars a month if you don't do any deposits or withdraws.    You were notified of all of these fees when you received the card.  Yes..even with pre-paid card that little booklet of the terms and conditions are very important because they disclose these fees.  The inactivity fees will generally run about $3-$6/month and it sounds like you are right in that range.

Now, in some states it is illegal for inactivity fees on "Store Branded" Cards.  That is a card that can only be used at one store or company..generally think of these as a Gift Card.  If it is a VISA/MC/AmEx..etc branded card that can be accepted at multiple stores there are no such laws restricting these inactivity fees.  Also, in the case of a Gift Card, it generally doesn't matter what your State of Residence is, it generally matters what state the card was issued in.