The British Airways Prepaid Mastercard thread

[robkeane]

It appear the team assigned to offer support for this card by BA are either not trained up correctly to do so, or are just happy to make things up as they go along. The card is not managed by Mastercard, it is PFS that is the card issuer. However you’d assume they don’t provide the sign-up bonus, but BA does.

This is the same team that when I told them there was nothing in the T&C that allowed for charges for cash-like transactions, and anyway in what world is it a cash-like advance when it is a prepaid card, insisted that those fees were being charged by the recipient of the money, not by the card ! And then suddenly unannounced all the cash fees get returned.

[Gosia44]

Shocking level of incompetence by BA on this one. I will get rid of the card as soon as the missing bonus arrives. Have spent a few hours on the Chat in the app waiting for an agent and no one showed up. Has anyone tried closing it?

[steve76]

Still waiting for my bonus (regular + HfP), 3 months + 1 week after activating the card and making first spend. Not very impressed so far – I don’t think this will be a keeper…

[chrism20]

So fifteen days after I contacted them as they had sent a push notification telling me a txn had been refunded and the Avios removed (They managed to removed the avios but not refund any cash) when I hadn’t refunded it with the retailer I have today received an email telling me that they are still looking into what has happened.

My honest opinion is they haven’t got a clue

[Philondon]

I received 1500 Avios on 15th October…. but not the extra 1500 for using the HFP link.

Has anyone successfully got the extra 1500? I see plenty of people above haven’t.

Any advice anyone?

[Dudulle]

Just received the 1500 extra avios from the hfp offer, just two days after the first 1500.

[drdan]

Me too! Time to close

[Philondon]

I just got the extra 1500 points. Did the webchat to close the account. They ask for a lot of personal information to verify…. a bit too many questions in my opinion (name, 1st line of address, postcode, date of birth, email address). I asked if they will confirm it’s closed by email or letter and they said they don’t do that. Hmmm!!!! So I did a screen shot of the last few lines of the webchat. There is a box that says “email webchat” but there is no “SEND” button.

[Marc]

Same here. Bonus 1.5k arrived this morning.

[andiron]

Got 3000 in one go 🙂

[andiron]

Oh the chat is pure joy.. after 10 minutes of hanging agent asked me:

andiron, is it an American express card?

then 5 minutes later:

andiron, to close that you need to contact Mastercard.

There contact number is – 0800 964767

[Gosia44]

My bonus arrived this morning too.
Have you called MasterCard to close? I understand from the advice above that it is not MasterCard but PFS who manage the card but even BA insists that MasterCard should be contacted. I find this whole experience very poor. Closing on Chat should be possible for everyone, not just for randomly selected few of us.

[andiron]

Yep, within 5 minutes (4 mins waiting) calling this number from their T&C:
02031460748
Just few questions about you BA number, addres, email, DOB. Non-India agent picked up and closed it very quickly.

[Gosia44]

Thanks for sharing the phone number. Time to close this card.

[dst87]

I must be an anomaly – I got two notifications this morning at the same time: 1,500 welcome points posted + 1,500 bonus points posted.

[Paul B]

3k paid out. Now what happens with an remaining balance when I call to cancel? I can’t seem to clear it for some reason, it seems to want at least a £10 balance,

[Philondon]

My balance was £0 when I closed it.

[SteveJ]

Paul B wrote:

3k paid out. Now what happens with an remaining balance when I call to cancel? I can’t seem to clear it for some reason, it seems to want at least a £10 balance,

Are you sure you’re not looking at the minimum top up rather than your balance?

[drdan]

Called the number at 0800, 0830, 9 and 0930… just a recording at option 4 to tell me to bugger off and try again later.. they really are hopeless!

[andiron]

Paul B wrote:

3k paid out. Now what happens with an remaining balance when I call to cancel? I can’t seem to clear it for some reason, it seems to want at least a £10 balance,

Check T&C there’s something like £5 fee and then they send the remaining amount to the card you used for top ups. I had £5.55 left, topped up with £10 and then spent it on £15.55 Amazon top up. Called 02031460748 and closed the empty account.

[Gosia44]

Called to close on 02031460748. 40 min on hold and then a basic conversation to confirm my details. No email confirmation of the card closure. Checked the app and the card looks still active. Maybe they need 24-48h to close it. Has anyone managed to see the card removed from the app or otherwise shown as closed?

[Marc]

Futter data point re cancelling the card: After calling 02031460748 yesterday and just being disconnected after 30 mins on hold, I got through today after 1h20m on hold. As stated by others above, no faff once you get through. Took under a minute and mainly to clear security.

Following the post above I’ve asked if there would be some sort of email confirmation. Agent said there won’t, but offered to send me a short written confirmation for my records via his work email – which came through straight after our call.

[Mandy]

dst87 wrote:

I must be an anomaly – I got two notifications this morning at the same time: 1,500 welcome points posted + 1,500 bonus points posted.

Me too!

[andiron]

Gosia44 wrote:

Called to close on 02031460748. 40 min on hold and then a basic conversation to confirm my details. No email confirmation of the card closure. Checked the app and the card looks still active. Maybe they need 24-48h to close it. Has anyone managed to see the card removed from the app or otherwise shown as closed?

About after a week, I get an error trying to see the card telling me the card is either inactive or hasn’t been issued. So it takes time.

[pbcold]

My 90 days are up tomorrow and the 3,000 hit this morning. I`m impressed (and cancelling).