Why is my GreenDot prepaid card not working?
In a nutshell: If your Green Dot prepaid card is not working, you are probably very anxious to figure out why and get it working again. There are a number of different things that might be causing the problem. Fortunately, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out which of them it is.
Introduction
If your Green Dot prepaid card is not working, you are probably very anxious to figure out why and get it working again. There are a number of different things that might be causing the problem. Fortunately, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out which of them it is.
If the card is new, you need to activate it before you can use it.
If you have not yet activated your card, proceed with the next step. If you have activated it already, skip to step 7.
Go to the Green Dot home page.
Green Dot home page
Click the "Activate your card" button in the navigation bar near the top of the screen.
Enter your 16 digit Green Dot card number in the text field on the left, your card's expiration date in the text field in the middle, and your card's CVV in the text field on the right.
Complete the CAPTCHA then click the "Next" button.
Follow the prompts to finish activating your card.
This should solve your problem.
Check the card's expiration date, if you've had it for a long time.
It might simply have expired. If it hasn't, continue with the next step.
Go to the Green Dot home page and click on the "Log in" button in the navigation bar near the top of the page.
Green Dot home page
Enter your user ID and password then click the "Login" button to log in to your Green Dot account.
Select "Check Balance" to check your balance.
Make sure you have enough money in your account to actually make the purchase you were trying to make.
If that was not the problem, check your transaction record to see how much you withdrew today from ATMs or how much you spent today.
Green Dot cards have limits on both. You can only withdraw $500 per day from ATMs, and you can spend no more than $3,000 to $5,000 in a single day, depending on which type of Green Dot card you have. If you exceed either limit, your card will just refuse to do anymore until the next day.
If that didn't solve the problem either, look for messages about your card having been locked by Green Dot.
If there is a pattern of activity on your card that Green Dot thinks is suspicious, it will lock your card to prevent it from being used fraudulently. An unusual series of many transactions, providing different personal information to a merchant than to Green Dot, and more might trigger a locking. Also, if you enter the wrong PIN too many times, that will also cause the card to be locked. If your card is locked, contact a Green Dot customer service representative for assistance.
Conclusion
If none of the ideas above worked, it is time to call a Green Dot customer service representative and ask for help figuring out why your card is not working. The Green Dot customer service center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.h
Further questions?
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