While prepaid credit cards can serve as a lifeline for millions of unbanked Americans in need of an alternative to traditional banking, Russell Simmons’ RushCard recently left thousands of consumers stranded without their funds because of a technical glitch. 

Consumers who depend on the RushCard to pay bills, buy groceries and make other purchases began experiencing problems with the system last week, with issues persisting on Monday, WRAL.com reports.

Among other things, users reported being locked out of their accounts and that their balances suddenly showed $0.

RushCard CEO Rick Savard blamed the disturbance on a “technology transition” that began late on Oct. 11.

“During this process, many of our customers were adversely affected when the technology that was used to transition their accounts did not work as planned,” Savard said in a statement. “RushCard is working around the clock to resolve all of these matters.”

At the time, Savard said the company had “restored many of our customers’ accounts,” and RushCard posted updates on the issue throughout the weekend, assuring customers their information was never at risk.

In another post on Saturday, the company apologized for the inconvenience: “If you were impacted, we can’t begin to express both how sorry we are for the pain that you’ve experienced and our commitment to make this right.”

And for the company, making it right apparently involves persuading customers to stick around by dropping the often high fees associated with the cards – for a limited time.

“As a thank you for sticking with us and to support your cash needs during the upcoming holiday season, we’ve declared a Fee Holiday Season, meaning from Nov. 1 to Feb. 29, 2016, you can use your RushCard without incurring fees from our Fee Schedule,” the post states. “You don’t need to take extra steps to participate in this special offer.”

The company’s mea culpa doesn’t appear to be helping customers who continued to express concerns about their inability to access their funds on Monday.

RushCard continued to reply to consumers on social media Monday, but has not provided an update on the situation.

RushCard CEO apologizes for tech glitch [WRAL.com]
[via Jezebel]

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