A prepaid debit card company co-founded by hip-hop businessman Russell Simmons announced this week that millions of dollars have been set aside to reimburse RushCard customers who couldn't access their funds during a technical glitch.
The prepaid Visa card operated by UniRush LLC allows customers to load the card with dollars or use it for direct deposit transactions. They can then use their money wherever Visa cards are accepted. But for a week or two earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of customers were unable to access their funds on the RushCards, causing some of them
significant financial problems, NPR reported.
Racquel Hudson, a 27-year-old from Chicago, told NPR that she and her husband went two weeks without being able to access the money they had on the RushCard. She is considering legal action.
Simmons has posted about the situation consistently on his Facebook page, giving customers updates and promising to make the situation right. On Oct. 17, he announced that RushCard customers would have a "fee holiday" from Nov. 1, 2015, through Feb. 29, 2016, meaning they will not pay the usual fees on their transactions.
"This holiday I will spend more then we could ever have made in this or any year on the compensation to the Rush family and I will give back to individuals and communities that the technology transition hurt," Simmons wrote on Facebook. "I started this company when no one ever heard of this kind of service or cared about this customer many underserved community members had NO OPPORTUNITY to have plastic or a bank."
The problems were reportedly caused by an attempt to upgrade technology and infrastructure, he said on FB.
"I understand many people will get their money and never use us again. Those who stay will be glad they did. Either way I'm so deeply sorry for this horrible experience I'm sure my nightmare is not close to the one some of you have experienced this week," Simmons wrote.
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