Last Week, Radio 4’s Money Box slammed the Prepaid card sector.
Although I accept there are many different viewpoints on this issue, what I find frustrating is when only half a story is told.
Even if it’s done so with the best of intentions, when speaking and advising the public – particularly through such a respected source as the BBC – is it not fair that the full picture be given?
The BBC claim that, according to a case study they reference, Prepaid card clients are not made aware of the fees they incur as part of the agreement. But are we all to be tarnished with the same brush? Certainly, in our case, each applicant must sign a form / tick a box online to agree to our terms and conditions (which are clearly visible not only on our site but all consumer based comparison sites such as MoneySupermarket) - before receiving the card. It’s also a legal requirement to have the terms and conditions clearly visible on any publication (paper and web – which we of course do).
The BBC also claims that costs are incurred by the client when having benefits paid on to Prepaid cards. This may be true of Radio 4’s case study, but not of ours. ClearCash allows bank transfers to be made into the icounts, and payments via salary and benefits can easily be made –without any additional cost to our cardholders. The problem highlighted in the BBC report, when further investigated online, that the most likely reason other prepaid providers charge for benefits to be paid in to their prepaid accounts is because the benefits agencies refuse to transfer the monies to prepaid cards due to the “extra admin” that’s incurred.
In our case, when benefits are paid into the ClearCash icount system, our office have to find the payment in the system. Normally, the payment will be made with the cardholders card number and this allows the system to automatically place the funds in their icount without delay. Unfortunately, the benefits office do not offer this facility and instead reference the client’s name or NI number. Our team must then manually search for the payment under the cardholder’s name and place the funds in the correct icount. A big admin burden to us that the benefits agencies can’t be bothererd with but in this situation, we do it because it’s needed. Although ClearCash doesn’t charge for this service, this is what I suspect other providers are charging their £2.50 fee for.
Furthermore, the article from Channel 4’s MoneyBox also quotes Minister Helen Goodman who states that she feels prepaid cards are not suitable for people on benefits. It’s possible Helen Goodman doesn’t understand why many people opt for Prepaid cards …because they can be much cheaper than operating a bank account on which you go overdrawn every month. Many people who doing something about their debt and who no longer qualify for a bank account, find security in a Prepaid card. which can give them a strong alternative to a normal account, but offers new features which assist them with their money management and also ensure they are in no danger of going into overdraft and consequently experiencing further charges. This is easily achieved mainly because there is no line of Credit.
Being Operations Director of ClearCash has given me an opportunity to really understand why people use our card and how it can genuinely help improve the financial stability of their life. With that said, I understand we can’t all agree on everything, but surely I can expect, especially from the BBC, a fair representation from both sides of the coin…no pun intended 
Should either the Money Box or Minister Helen Goodman like a complementary ClearCash card and icount to test for themselves, they can contact me.
