Cash Plus Mastercard

When you top-up the card Cashplus will deny ever receiving the funds. They simply seem to steal the money!

For those that are unfamiliar with prepaid credit cards I will attempt to give a simple explanation.
In reality they are not exactly credit cards, they work on the same principles of a debit card.
They hold the Mastercard credit card logo, and can be used for nearly all the services that offers, but can only be used up to the value that a person pre pays or "tops-up" onto the card.
Various methods of topping up the cards can be used, including at the Post Office, and bank transfers. All methods do attract high fees for example a bank transfer cost me £15

It is very easy to apply for the Cashplus card, can all be done online. The following ID is required to apply: passport number, driving licence number, electricity supply number, home telephone number and you have to be registered on the electoral role where you live. Providing this is all in order you should receive a card, there are no other checks carried out.

After this the problems begin...

Prior to making an international bank transfer from America to top-up my cashplus prepaid mastercard I spoke with Cashplus customer services for instructions on doing this.
After a long delay and having to make many very expensive phone calls to customer services, the top-up was finally credited to my card.
So, somewhat happy with this and convinced the system did work I made another international bank transfer from America.

This was over a month ago and Cashplus have not credited my card with the funds. They say they can not fund the funds.
This transfer was sent exactly the same way as the one that was already received, no difference.
I have supplied more than enough evidence for Cashplus to find this money. Unique details that could immediately identify the transfer, even the exact time that my bank (Bank of America) sent the funds.
How many international transfers from my American bank & branch do Cashplus receive a day? Even if they do receive some how many at the exact day & time my bank sent it and with my unique card number as payment reference? It should not really be hard for Cashplus to find.

Cashplus are asking for impossible "proof of sending" before they will even attempt to look for the missing top-ups and without this just continue to ignore me.

Even more unbelievably Cashplus say they need to know exactly how much the bank transfer was in pounds sterling! The American bank sent the funds in American dollars, not pounds.
Cashplus (or their bank) must have then exchanged this into pounds.
How could I or the American bank possibly know the exchange rate used by Cashplus (or their bank)?

Cashplus are asking impossible questions, knowing fully well that the questions can not be answered.
It appears that if Cashplus think topups can be hard to prove they simply steal the money!

The sending bank (Bank of America) say the funds were received into Cashplus account and not returned. Cashplus (or their bank) do have this money.
The sending bank have started a "trace investigation" into the matter and Cashplus's seemingly underhanded activities, and have given Cashplus two weeks to respond. It is nearly two weeks now since Bank of America started the trace and Cashplus (or their bank) have failed to even acknowledge the trace (which they must) let alone reply to it.
I wont be surprised if I never see my money again and they uncover that they may be involved in money laundering or possibly even more sinister activities.

Cashplus customer services are completely unprofessional to deal with. They have left me on hold for extended periods (at 90pence per minute), while they claim to talk to their "head office".
At one stage I was supposedly transferred to head office, so that they could deal directly with the issue. In reality I think all this representative did was pass me to her friend who was sitting next to her, the head office person had a similar African accent and in the background it was clear to hear the previous representative shouting information at her.

I informed this supposed Cashplus head office person that I would be contacting the Financial Services Authority and Mastercard regarding the matter, the lady I was speaking with simply laughed and said "do as you please".

The only way to contact Cashplus is by an extortionate 0871 number that charges 90p per minute to speak to them! Already I have ran up a very large bill trying to have my money found.
There are alternative numbers listed on saynoto0870.com but unfortunately they are all out of date. Only one of these numbers answers and they deny any connection with Cashplus.

Cashplus do not even supply an email contact.

Cashplus do not reply to normal mail sent to their postal address.

There is an on-line form to fill out for attempting to find missing topups. The form can only be used for this, no other communication. I suspect this is only to stop customer services from being flooded with phone calls from customers attempting to find their missing topups.
The actual form is tiny, will only accept a very small amount of characters, never enough to submit even the required information, and will not accept what it classes as "special characters" such as £,$,?,: & @ Seriously, it wont accept the £ character.
Cashplus always frustratingly respond to this form with being "unable to find the topups with the information submitted", I'm really not surprised, their form is seriously flawed!

Cashplus offer two types of account, ActivePlus & FlexiPlus
With ActivePlus you are charged £4.95 a month subscription fee just to have the card, then on top of this are charged transaction fees, such as £2 per cash machine withdrawal and £3 per bank withdrawal fee.
With Flexiplus you do not have to pay the £4.95 monthly fee but are charged a whopping £1 per purchase transaction and also the high £2 per cash machine withdrawal, £3 bank withdrawal etc.

I have made repeated attempts to have my account changed from ActivePlus to FlexiPlus, as per their terms & conditions, the customer services representatives have assured me they will take care of this, but they never have, I am still being charged the £4.95 ActivePlus fee.

I really can not recommend the Cashplus Mastercard.

Cashplus Mastercard is issued by Broadcastle Bank Ltd. I have never heard of this bank. In hindsight I should have done more diligence before applying for the card.

If you are looking for a prepaid credit card may I suggest that you look to the cards offered by established and recognised brands or banks.