Ultra VX Prepaid Credit Card Internet

The only reason I came to hear of this outfit is because I suddenly started receiving unsolicited text messages from them on my phone about twice a week.  The message was brief and told me I have an account balance of zero.  I don't even have an account.

I thought it may be a harmless typo from a new customer who put in my phone number by accident, but I became very concerned when I looked at the website.  There's no easy way to contact them to speak to a live person.  They also want you to enter your social security number which you should never give to a machine, regardless of what company it is.  When I did a "Whois" look up on the domain name, it says that the contact address is in Funchal, Madeira 9000-039 (Portugal) and the email is a big line of alphanumeric text at domaindiscreet dot com and not at ultravx or any other corporate domain name.

After seeing them on ripoffreport, I'm terribly concerned that my identity has been compromised or something worse.

Ross
Erie, PA

I have been a customer for over 3 years and late fees were never charged until recently.  But since your an employee and have the answers explain why I made my over 300 dollar payment on the 3rd of june and it has not been credited since. Called customer service and 22 days later nobody has an answer for why it shows the payment but never credited it.  I stayed on the phone one day and kept asking for another manager after 20 minutes Richard Myles gave me his direct number and ext said will get back to you in hour.  That was over 12 days ago. He never answers his phone. So now I am going thru every news station I can to explain how I cannot buy my cancer medication prescriptions as I get direct deposit of just over 700 dollars and you have kept half. I will not stop until I can file a suit against you people

All I have to say and this might sound elementary compared to all these consumers with their long paragraphs. Here this, I had ultra VX , CLOSED MY ACCOUNT and they when i checked my account I have 5 consecutive months of being late on an account that is not open. I called and they told me i owe them 6.95 for the monthly fee and I dont have the credit card anymore and they wouldnt let me pay it over the phone!! So im stuck with fucking 6.95 charges every month and they refused to do anything about it!

Hey all, I just thought I would add a post here. See I too have an UltraVX card but I've had not problems with it. The simple facts are that since its Secured that means that any money you send them goes into a savings account. The money in that savings account, dollar for dollar, is your credit limit. Therefore if you use the card you owe the amount you charge. If you are looking for a prepaid, or debit, card use Netspend issued through ACE Check Cashing. Misinformation is present here, for the complainant please in the future check closely if it is Secured or Prepaid. The company doesn't owe you for your misunderstanding. Did you not read the "Terms of Agreement." The UltraVX card should not be on the "Ripoff Report" for they are a legitimate business that is operating within the law, providing excellent service to its customers. Whenever I've called the Customer Service Representative with an issue it was resolved quickly and completely. Ignorance is the reason for this slander against a company giving people with bad credit a second chance.

(HYPE)--I got the information online from a search engine (don't remember which one). The official site states the amount you put in is your credit limit, the more you use it, the higher your limit goes. Once you reach 2x the limit, the balance gets cut by half, indicating an early payoff of some sort, or at least a large one time payment. Who wouldn't want that on there credit report?

(Truth)--
1)--You get your whole check direct deposited.
2)--You use the amount deposited.
3)--Balance is $amount spent.
4)--Next payday, direct deposit(covers previous purchases)
5a)--Balance should be $0.
5)b--Balance is actually the amount spent, and you now have to pay a minimum amount but that SHOULD be already taken care of with the direct deposit.
6)--You don't get a statement for 3-4 months.
7)--You now owe $???.?? minimum.
...and it keeps getting higher & higher even if you don't use it anymore.

WHAT THE... !?

(HYPE)--I got the information online from a search engine (don't remember which one). The official site states the amount you put in is your credit limit, the more you use it, the higher your limit goes. Once you reach 2x the limit, the balance gets cut by half, indicating an early payoff of some sort, or at least a large one time payment. Who wouldn't want that on there credit report?

(Truth)--
1)--You get your whole check direct deposited.
2)--You use the amount deposited.
3)--Balance is $amount spent.
4)--Next payday, direct deposit(covers previous purchases)
5a)--Balance should be $0.
5)b--Balance is actually the amount spent, and you now have to pay a minimum amount but that SHOULD be already taken care of with the direct deposit.
6)--You don't get a statement for 3-4 months.
7)--You now owe $???.?? minimum.
...and it keeps getting higher & higher even if you don't use it anymore.

WHAT THE... !?

(HYPE)--I got the information online from a search engine (don't remember which one). The official site states the amount you put in is your credit limit, the more you use it, the higher your limit goes. Once you reach 2x the limit, the balance gets cut by half, indicating an early payoff of some sort, or at least a large one time payment. Who wouldn't want that on there credit report?

(Truth)--
1)--You get your whole check direct deposited.
2)--You use the amount deposited.
3)--Balance is $amount spent.
4)--Next payday, direct deposit(covers previous purchases)
5a)--Balance should be $0.
5)b--Balance is actually the amount spent, and you now have to pay a minimum amount but that SHOULD be already taken care of with the direct deposit.
6)--You don't get a statement for 3-4 months.
7)--You now owe $???.?? minimum.
...and it keeps getting higher & higher even if you don't use it anymore.

WHAT THE... !?

This is a comment to the employee of UltraVx who tried to explain how this credit crad works. The ending of her statement stated to "treat it like a credit card." This employee does not understand that most people who sign up for a card, any card, DO in fact read the terms and conditions but misinterpret them. They are "consumers", not lawyers, and can not interpret the law. Credit card comapnies should have two sets of terms, one written as law and policy and one written in layman's terms. Nevertheless, here lies within the confusion with this "credit card".

There are straight credit cards that as we all know give you credit based on your credit score. You use the card by making a purchase and at the end of the month you pay the bill, or the minimum due. They report monthly to the credit bureau.

There are prepaid credit cards that are cards that are typically bought at any store, and you add money to them in any amount you'd like. To use the card, you load it with cash, make a purchase, and youre done. No bills, just a monthly ee possibly. Whatever cash you add, you spend. They do not report to the credit bureaus.

There are secured credit cards that request a minimum deposit of anywhere from $500 to $5000. Before you may use the card, you pay the "deposit" which is collateral for that card in case you do not pay.They do NOT deduct the cost of your purchases from this deposit. It is like it is invisible. To use the card, you make a purchase, they send you a bill at the end of the month, and you pay at tleast the minimum payment. So if initially you secured your card with $500, your limit is $500, and your $500 is held. You are not doubly paying. You are paying what you spent thus far, and building a credit history of timely payments. If you pay late, it reports as late. If they deducted your purchases from the $500, like prepaid, they can not report that you are making on time payments. I hope this makes sense. Once you can obtain an unsecured credit card, you can close the account, and receive your $500 back.

The problem I see with this UltaVx is that they are essentially combining prepaid credit cards and secured credit cards togther. I say this becuase just like a prepaid credit card, you can put ANY amount on the card at ANY time. This would confuse anyone, because most secured cards require a full deposit made in a specific amount, not nilly willy deposits made whenever. Now, they act as a secured card becuase now they take your monies sent in and hold it as collateral. So your credit available is equal to the amount sent in. So if you sent in $187, your available credit is $187 and in order for them to report to the credit bureau, they have to prove payment history. So you recieve a monthly bill and pay minimum due. If you do not pay by the due date, you are considered LATE.

In order to correct this problem, I would suggest UTAVx require a secured deposit minimum like all other secured cards, so that this card is not thought of as a prepaid card and peoplebelive they are doble paying. Which in a sense they are double paying. They deposit $187, spend $187, and owe $187 at the end of the month. They do get the money back, but at the time, it seems like double paying. This is establish payment history. This is why prepaid cards do not report. If you are trying to establish payment history, there are two options, get a credit card with a low limit and high start up fees (which is money down the drain) and have a real credit card, or get a real secured card that is backed up with $250 or $500 paid at once.

I hope this makes sense to you. I was just not satisfied with the credit line comparison and was insulted by the insinuation that NO one reads the terms and conditions. Thanks for the rant!

To the employee who submitted a defense rebuttal: You should be ashamed of yourself. How do you sleep at night. First let me address the "let me make this as simple as I can." That's not simple. Even your own explanation sounds like a scam by a company trying to rip people off who are in a tough situation already. You and your company are scum.

Now my story:

Similar to those above I opened an account to repair my credit. I noticed when I logged in to my account recently that it said I owed a past due amount. I thought, that's weird this is a secured credit card backed up by a cash account, so how could there be a past due amount? Shouldn't it just come out of my cash account? So, I promptly called to close the account. The person I spoke with told me he closed my account. Next day I get a daily balance alert. Hmmm....shouldn't be getting balance alerts on an account I closed. Called back. Why am I getting email alerts on a closed account? No intelligible answer. Please make them stop. Will do. I am still getting daily email alerts. I've tried to call back and now just get hung up on by there crappy phone system. I've submitted emails and messages through their website with no response. The phone and cable companies have nothing on these guys in the realm of bad customer service.

Bonus: They finally got around to reporting to the credit agencies, like they said they would monthly. Only now, weeks after I supposedly closed my account they are reporting to the credit agencies that I have an OPEN DELINQUENT ACCOUNT!!!!! You've got to be kidding me. This goes beyond bad customer service and is borderline criminal. I've filed a claim with the Better Business Bureau in Utah and might contact an attorney if this matter isn't cleared up soon.

I was just like a lot of people in this bad economy trying to repair my bad credit and these people have falsely lowered even more. This is so frustrating, and now I can't even get through to anyone.


So to everyone thinking about getting one of these cards to repair your credit: DON'T DO IT! THEY WILL ONLY WRECK YOUR CREDIT FURTHER. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

...consumers do not read the terms and conditions or even the materials on a company's own website about how their product functions.

What those who have posted above aren't telling you is how the card actually functions. It is NOT a prepaid credit card. It is a credit card which has a line of credit, minimum monthly payments, an interest rate, and of course reports to credit bureaus.

The card has only one variation from a more traditional credit card in that it is what is called a secured credit card. The credit given to customers is not based upon their credit history, it is based upon the deposits they have made to the account. To make it as easy as possible to understand:

1. Customer applies for card and sends 50.00 to the account.

2. Customer spends 20.00 at a store.

3. The account creates a line of credit of exactly 20.00 to pay for the 20.00 charge. To create this line of credit the account will hold 20.00 out of the 50.00 sent by the customer as a secured deposit. The 20.00 is not accessible to the customer until they cancel their account.

4. The account now has a 20.00 line of credit which is used to pay the merchant. You have 30.00 in cash left over on the account. You can use this 30.00 to pay off your line of credit or make more purchases to create a maximum line of credit of 50.00 as described above in step 3.

What happens when you spend money on a line of credit? You have to pay it back.

If you review your Ultra VX statement you will see interest charges, a due date for a minimum payment (10.00 or 4% of balance, whichever is greater) as you would with any other credit card. If you don't make at least your minimum payment to your line of credit a late fee is assessed, again, just as any other credit card company would do.

In the example above you may be thinking what happens to that 20.00 which is being held in exchange for giving the customer 20.00 in credit. When the customer cancels the account this 20.00 is used to pay off anything owed on the line of credit. If they owe nothing they get it all back.

There is no "now I owe double?" situation. The money held to give you credit is yours and will remain yours, as outlined above. Again, because Ultra VX does not check your credit, cash you send to the card is held in a secured credit account as collateral against your line of credit.

As for statements: The option to get paper statements or go paperless is presented as an option when the customer signs up for a card. You may also opt into or out of paper statements by calling the customer service line and having them change your account setup for you.

In summary: Treat it like a credit card with a line of credit, because that's what it is!

I am having the same problem with them. I have my paychecks directly deposited onto my card...and then when I get paid, I use my card to spend it. Now So far since I've had direct deposit, 1000 has been put on my card, but they are saying I owe them 1000. If They HAVE my 1000 in a "secured account" Why do I owe them 1000? And about them reporting to credit bearus, they DONT. I pay for a subscription to freecreditreport.com and nowhere on my report is there anything having to do with ultravx.