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Overview:
Average Monthly Fees and Costs:
$13.86
Product Details:
Setup fee: none
ATM transaction fee: $1.98 per withdrawal, or $0.33 for ATM balance inquiry (plus any fees imposed by the ATM owner)
No monthly maintenance fee
Activation Fee: $0.00
Monthly Fee: $0.00
Card Limit: $9,999
PIN Transaction Fee: $0.99
Signature Transaction Fee: $0.00
ATM Withdrawal Fee: $1.98
ATM Balance Inquiry Fee: $0.33
ATM Out of Network Withdrawal Fee: $0.00
ATM Out of Network Balance Inquiry Fee: $0.00
ATM Withdrawal Limit: $520
Bill Payment Fee: $0.00
Bill Payment Limit: $0.00
Bank Teller Cash Fee: $0.00
Bill Pay Expedited Service Fee: $0.00
Inactivity/Maintenance Fee: $0.00
Wire Fee: $0.00
ACH Debit Fee: $0.00
Card Purchases (SIgnature) Daily Limit: $2,500.00
Card Purchases (PIN) Daily Limit: $2,500.00
Send Money Limit: $0.00
Card Reviews: Card Reviews, Prepaid Debit Card Reviews
Card Features
Initial Fees
Average Monthly Fees
Bill Pay Fees / Features
Loading Fees / Options
Total Score
User Rating
13 total ratings
Things We Like
This card,issued by the Bancorp Bank, is FDIC-insured. It comes with Visa purchase protections.There is no monthly maintenance fee, and initial cards are free. It can be a good way for youngsters to learn to handle funds.
Things We Dislike
There is a 99-cent fee for PIN transactions (and cash back is a way of avoiding ATM fees), so fees for converting the card to cash cannot be avoided. If you should decide to liquidate the card, there is a $15 fee. We also wish for text alerts or a parental ability to disallow ATM withdrawals or freeze a subaccount.
Full Article
Akimbo Visa Prepaid Card bills itself as an allowance card, and it is designed for that role. Used as a “credit” card, meaning without the PIN, transactions are free. Users can set up as many as five subaccounts for children, babysitters or others. Unlike many of its competitors, the Akimbo card is set up specifically for teens and young adults; there is no provision for direct deposit from an employer, nor are there bill pay features and the like. However, fees are generally low, and it’s easy to set up regular deposits, such as a weekly allowance.
There is no fee for an initial card, nor are there monthly fees. However, there are point-of-service charges when a PIN is used, and there is a 33-cent charge for checking the balance of the card on an ATM. While cash transferred from a main account to a subaccount is available right away, cash from a bank withdrawal can take several days to load onto the card (not good if that’s how you paid a baby sitter). Card balances may be checked for free online or by phone; mobile banking and text alerts are not offered. (Those services can make theft of a card easier to detect right away, and users have only two business days to report card fraud to avoid liability.) Funds are FDIC-insured, which is a big plus.
Consumer Reviews and Ratings of Akimbo Prepaid MasterCard:
6 CommentsLeave a comment »
Stacy DavidoffJanuary 15, 2015 at 5:46 pm
Hello, I would like to tell you the short and unhappy story of my experience with Akimbo.
At first everything was fine – I could load my card with Moneypak, could accept transfers from other Akimbo users. But when I decided to put some significant amount of money to my account, here the scamming Akimbo group started to act.
First they locked my account and asked for my ID – no problem, it was sent. Then they kept on sending different requests like notarized letters etc. I also called them everyday – and everyday I heard different story.
When I fullfillied all they wanted, they started to request for documents which they already had requested. The issue was on for 2 weeks at the moment. I had no patience left and pointed out this incompetence. After that I immediately received a letter from some lady named Kristen Stewart(Akimbo employee)which accused me of counterfeing the documents I sent and announced that my card is locked and they won’t return the money from my account.
I currently have $3507.22 stuck on my account. That is really significant money for me. So I advise you to be careful with this Akimbo organization. Though my story isn’t over, I am to visit my lawyer asap. Such actions should not be left without responsibility!
Reply
Hilary DoddridgeJanuary 15, 2015 at 9:55 pm
That is truly unbelievable behavior from a card issuer. It seems that without having to bring on an attorney that they could accept documentation if you got it notarized and send to them. I would call the Better Business Bureau and report this (or visit http://www.bbb.org). They need to uphold their responsibility to allow you access to your cash. If anyone else has had a similar scenario with Akimbo, and especially how you were able to resolve it, please comment below.
Reply
Stacy DavidoffJanuary 16, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Thank you for your reply! I am definetely going to bbb.com. They should not get away with this!
Reply
Hilary DoddridgeJanuary 19, 2015 at 3:49 pm
Thank you and good luck! Let us know how it goes, if you don’t mind.
Reply
JaniceAugust 29, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Same issue.
I contacted the company asking if monies due to me by the State relating to a refund could be loaded onto the card since the State only issues electronic refunds to card, not bank accounts and no checks are issued anymore. I had other options, but wanted to put the funds on the Akimbo card. I spoke to a woman at the company who said that it would be absolutely no problem. Six weeks later I go online to access my account to determine if the funds had been posted. The account was locked. I had not received any notice of this fact from the company. I am told to verify my ID. I did not have the means to upload the documents at the time, so I emailed the company asking what the issue was. If there was ‘suspicious’ activity, I wanted to know what it was.
The next day I called the company, having not heard back. I spoke to a woman who said that the issue that raised ‘suspicion’ was that I had two activated card. I explained to her that there should only be one activated card. I had misplaced the first card, notified them and had it replaced. It seems the company never deactivated the misplaced card. Upon receipt of the new card I activated it and used it without issue. Yet, the CSR told me that the new card had never been activated. (Which is the opposite of what she had said from the outset of the conversation.) After a long drawn-out process I had no reason to believe that the issue had not been resolved.
Later that day I get a response to my earlier email. It said that the account was frozen because of a transaction reversal of which it had no documentation of the original transaction. I sent an email explaining that the company would have no such record and neither did I. The State did not issue any documentation to me, everything was done over the phone. However, I had contacted their company before having the transaction forwarded to it and was told that there would be no issue. I received no response.
I called again and was told that I had not, in fact, called or spoken to anyone. Their records showed no such contact. I went through the process of explaining everything I had in the previous email. I had been told that the refund could be posted to my account without issue. At this point I was told that its employee must have misunderstood because it could only have been loaded as a ‘deposit’, not a refund. I had made that clear before triggering the transaction with the State. So, its employee gives out incorrect information and I am being penalized for it. I contacted the State. It has no documentation to offer since all refunds are handled by an outside organization that I cannot contact. I explained this fact to the Akimbo representatives over and over again, yet, the CSR refused to move the call ‘up-the-line’. If I had been given proper information I would not have used that card for the refund. Yet, I am being held responsible for the company’s mistake.
Ultimately, I was told that ‘an exception’ would be made if I sent a copy of a State-issued photo ID to the risk management department. I was told that I could do that through the website on my cell phone. As it turns out, one can’t do that on a cell phone. So, I emailed the photo ID. No response for two days and the account was still frozen.
I called again and was told that the email had not be received. Then, after considerable pressure and unnecessary argumentation the email was acknowledged. But, I was told that the ID – a State-issued photo ID – was not acceptable under its guidelines. I would have to send another. Even though this is likely a ruse, I did send another ID and photo – both of which have nothing to do with the issue it raised – the refund transaction. It is simply a way to keep the funds frozen.
In a purely electronic world the company delays funds availability for seven days even when loading bank to bank. It wants aggregate funds to sweep into overnight investment accounts for that period in order to make money with your money. Now, it is doing the same with these and other people’s funds by presenting paper tigers.
Don’t even think about using this company’s card. The funds aren’t protected (FDIC) or the company regulated the way banks are. They are the wild west of finance, unaccountable absent litigation.
Shane TripconySeptember 1, 2015 at 4:20 pm
This is truly unbelievable. I can not believe that a company would offer such terrible customer service and non-customer friendly policies. With a comment similar to this below, one should take these consumer stories into account when choosing a prepaid card. I hope you get your resolution quickly and they unlock your funds. I understand security, but that is ridiculous.
Grace
Horrible NYC 100 covid vaccine incentive, not able to login and during registration even after I entered in the correct email and validation code it said not able to validate me – what the?!
then I pick phone validation then system said I am already in the system hum? Then when I tried to login using email and password it gave me: Sorry we’re experiencing a temporary issue, please try again later.
What? If I have to spend an hour calling this company to sort out this issue then government need to pay me another $100 for my time wasted on this nonsense.
Who ever in the government decides to partner with this company need to be seriously be in question by the higher level leaders… this service is horrible and reputation lost for NYC and akimbo. You guys are wasting a lot of people’s time.
2021/12/31 at 4:40 am
Select comment Curtis Arnold
In reply to Jonathan Mitchell.
Thanks for your post Jonathan. Who is the invite code from? Your employer.
And Akimbo has a few different card options (including giving them as gifts similar to gift cards)- so what is the name of the card you got the invite for? Their customer service email is:
Also, please post customer complaints and inquiries going forward on our Akimbo cardholder reviews page here:
Full Review of Akimbo Prepaid Visa Debit Card: Good or a Scam / RipOff?
2020/05/18 at 7:55 pm
Select comment Jonathan Mitchell
Hi can I get a invite to akimbo it’s asking for invite code
