Green Dot Overdraft?

Question

I bought a Walmart Green Dot Visa card the other day at the store. (A ripoff $8 or $9 just to put $20 on the card.) I made a few transactions that left me with .38 on the card. Then today I went in and added another $30 to the card and before I left Walmart I tried the card on a DVD rental machine but it said the card was declined. When I got home I logged into my account and it had no + $30.00 on there, but it DID have a - $1.00 for that rental machine. I thought you couldn't overdraft these cards. And the bigger problem is, to make a Green Dot account you have to enter your social security. IS THIS GOING TO AFFECT MY CREDIT???!!!

Answer 1

I've never heard of a social security number being required for a Green Dot card; that must be a new requirement.  If you don't mind me asking (I'm curious since I do answer many questions on here regarding Green Dot) at what point did they ask you for your SSN?  Was it when registering online?

Here's what's happening on your card.  The $1 you see as a charge on there is the same thing that happens on a credit card: Validation.  When you tried to use the DVD rental machine, the machine had to make sure the card was actually usable.  To assure that, it checks to make sure there's at least $1 in there (not just for prepaid cards, this is the validation process used on normal credit cards too.)  It technically puts a "hold" on $1 for a matter of a day or so.

Since you didn't have $1 in there (the money you had added wasn't showing up yet), your sale was declined as they couldn't validate the card.  Despite it being declined, that $1 will still show as being held for the next day or so (possibly until Monday.)  That $1 will be released and you don't have to worry.

Also, just so you know for future reference, you're right that you cannot technically overdraft a Green Dot card.  Every once in a while a system error will allow you to make a purchase when you do not have enough funds.  While it will give you a negative balance, there would not be an extra overdraft charge (as it was a system error to allow the purchase) and you only have to pay the negative amount if they contact you and request it.  They rarely do, unless it's a lot of money.

If you don't see that $1 released by Monday afternoon, you can call their customer service at 1-877-434-3578.