Second Chance Bank Accounts: A Help or a Money Drainer?

It seems as there are ever growing problems in the United States with local banks becoming more and more strict with who they offer their services to many people are turning to loading 2nd chance bank account cards. While this may be the only alternative for any individuals situation its the "fine print" that is tainted and becomes more of a hassle to use than something that is in the end going to help you or someone you know.

Many people with credit issues fall into this category of searching for a bank of some sort to hold their money, have the opportunity to be presented with a debit card with a credit logo such as Visa or Mastercard on it and hopefully if all goes well be able to build some sort of credit that they either never had or was tarnished in the past. So in the event of actually finding out exactly everything that is involved in these I decided to get one of these 2nd chance bank accounts from the company Only1.

Of course my credit was not of any great stature and actually was poor, but being able to build credit by paying bills with this card would prove to be beneficial, so I thought. The first thing after signing up was to decide what kind of card I would like to receive. Obviously in today's day and age having a debit card with a Mastercard or Visa logo on it is quite essential not just for paying bills, but going to the movies, shopping, getting groceries, whatever the case may be you can't just pay with a bank card it must have either logo on it. So Only1 provides you with one for the mere price of $20 for each card you request. Once the card was received which can take up to 10 days you are able to load the card with money.

So lets say I put a simple $50 into the account to start off, just to get a feel of how things work. First thing I need to do is go to the local area that uses Moneygram to load money into the account. Now before I go on there are various ways to put money in here such as a transfer from your local bank, doing a direct deposit (which many jobs do not offer), sending money to your account through Paypal (which is pointless if you can get a debit/credit card from them), or Buddy Money (sending money from different accounts to others as Paypal does). I however used moneygram for my situation at the time and after realizing that it was $4.95 to load the card I placed $45 in the account and then the other $5 went to the loading fee.

Anyways once everything is completed the money is in your account to have access within the hour which is the good news. The bad news is they are quick to take your $20 for the card with the logo on it which busts the money down to $25 real quick not to mention the $1 Only1 charged me for using MoneyGram which made it $24. So at the time it was my own personal fault I didn't read the fees for the debit card because I saw the fine print at the bottom of the page that says free debit card so of course I thought it was free. So I called the company itself which was a 1-801 number (yes its not free on your phone bill) and got an automated message that at first was having problems and was speaking Spanish even though I pressed the English button. So I hung up and tried calling back again with the same result. I decided it was best to send an email to them then which would take anywhere from 24-48 hours and let me tell you it was closer to the 48 hours. Going back to my account page I noticed two fees that had been charged to my account. $1 for each one both for making calls to their automated customer service. So now I am quite irritated with this whole fiasco and send another email explaining how the automated system had messed up and 2 days later I get a message back that they cannot refund my money. So now there was $22 in the account.

Lol, I'm actually getting irritated remembering all this but hoping this doesn't happen to anyone else I wanted to write about it. So I found all of there fees and was blown away by everything they were charging for which is essentially taking more money away than anything.

1. Customer Service Fees: $1 per automated phone access, $1 Live Agent Support Access Fee, $3 Replacement Card Fee, $3 Paper Statement Fee, $20 Express Mail Fee, $25 Return Item Fee.

2. Load Options: $7 Bank Wire Transfer Fee, Varies per location on PayXone Retail Location, $1 MoneyGram^® Convenience Fee** .

Now the loading option fees are not from those institutions but charges that are made by Only1 themselves.

3. Account Types: In my case it was the prepaid mastercard logo debit/credit card. 50 cents per Transaction Fee (Non-PIN), $1 Transaction Fee (PIN), $1 PIN Point of Sale Decline, $2 ATM Withdrawal , $1 ATM Decline , $5 Bank Cash Advance .

4. Money Management Tools: $1 Bank ACH Transfer fee , $1 Bill Pay Paper Check Fee, $10 Bill Pay Check Cancellation Fee .

Although I never really used the card except maybe twice loading the account I think the most I had in there was about $150 before I researched the fees and pulled all but .39 cents out. The main objective here is if you are in a dire situation and need to find another option to a bank account, it may be wise to go this route. However, if you are going to, think first about how you are actually going to be using this card and any company like Only1 and the best ways for you to keep the fees down before you decide which company to go with. Only then will it truly be worth the effort.