No foolin' 2: Customer service charge to talk to a machine

Consumer Reports News: April 01, 2009 02:37 PM

In an earlier post today we mentioned two prepaid debit cards with some eye-opening terms. Here's a third that might just trump the others:

The BuyRIGHT Prepaid MasterCard charges a $29.95 activation fee just to get started, according to the Terms and Conditions on its Web site. The BuyRIGHT home page says it charges no monthly or annual fees, but the Terms and Conditions show it merely gives you the option to pay $1 per transaction as an alternative to a $4.95 monthly fee. Withdrawing money from an ATM costs $2 and balance inquiries via ATM cost $1, not including what the host bank charges. You pay $1 to talk to a live person from customer service—on a line that's not toll-free. Even calling an automated voice-response line costs 50 cents per call. After 6 months of inactivity, the fine print says, you're charged a "maintenance fee" of $4.95 a month. To terminate the card and get back the money that's still loaded, BuyRIGHT charges a $15 cancellation fee.

In all, we counted 20 possible fees if you choose to pay $1 per transaction, and 19 if you choose the monthly fee.

Is that a record?—Tobie Stanger

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No foolin' 2: Customer service charge to talk to a machine

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