How Do Prepaid Debit Card issuers Interact With Each Other?

Question

I have seen banks like Metabank that have issued numerous prepaid card brands including Univion, Kaiku, Netspend, Rushcard and Green Dot.

If you bought AccountNow Prepaid MasterCard issued by MetaBank and NetSpend Visa Prepaid Debit Card again issued by MetaBank, how does MetaBank link both cards? Do they have a database that tracks the activity of both cards or how do they share your personal financial information with other partnering financial institutions?

Does a declined check at one prepaid MetaBank card affect the standing of another prepaid MetaBank card under the same cardholder?

Let's imagine I live in Washington DC and have a MetaBank prepaid card, and I used it in Vermont Virginia to buy gas at a gas station. MetaBank has blocked the card for suspicious activity. Can MetaBank block my other card for that same activity too?

If multiple debit cards of different people are registered at the same residential address, could the activity mentioned above impact their accounts as well?

And in general, how does the process of sharing bank account information go? How does, for example, Chase bank know that I have purchased a 45 dollar monthly phone plan?

Answer 1

how does MetaBank link both cards?

As part of Know Your Customer (KYC), both the cards will have one customer record with MetaBank. Visa or MasterCard may not know your other cards not issued by them.

Does a declined check at one prepaid MetaBank card affect the standing of another prepaid MetaBank card under the same cardholder?

This depends on situation. It may or may not affect the other card.

MetaBank has blocked the card for suspicious activity. Can MetaBank block my other card for that same activity too?

Yes MetaBank can. This depends on the type of suspicious activity. If it leads to believe that the card is compromised, only that card is blocked. If it leads to be believe that KYC of the customer is fraudulent, all the cards get blocked.

If multiple debit cards of different people are registered at the same residential address, could the activity mentioned above impact their accounts as well?

There are different aspects;

• An individual card is suspected to be compromised, then only that card get blocked. This is to protect the card holder.
• Bank is lead to believe that Customer submitted false KYC, it would block all relationship with the said customer. This is assuming they have right record keeping and don't have multiple identifiers for same customer.
• A Customer Name is identified by authorities and is on black-list. All cards across all banks are blocked subject to investigation.
• An address is identified by authorities and is on black-list. All relationships using that address are blocked subject to investigations. It takes a while to clear individuals who may be using the said address but are not connected to any illegal activities.