Credit Cards

Stack MC : Nerfed!! Fees galore! Avoid this card!

  • Last Updated:
  • Jan 21st, 2024 8:53 am
Tags:
None
Sr. Member
Sep 26, 2011
606 posts
196 upvotes
Gtaphotog wrote: Once the Spotify promo ended at Stack I virtually stopped using the card as the constant issues and wait times for loading didn't add up to making it worth while, if I was travelling often I'd probably load up some money as a backup but I doubt it'd still be used as CC and some cash on hand would go a lot further instead of having to hunt down an ATM that'll work to withdraw from stack for free.

Stack is a nice card to have in a travel wallet but I personally don't see how it's such a benefit when you have to deal with issues of loading and then finding somewhere to withdraw with no fee.
I fully agree practically all the US wyndham/rci properties ive stayed at arnt anywhere near free ATMs which if I got there via plane + ground transport its not convenient compared to just opening up a USD savings account & find a participating atm. I found some vending machines wouldn't accept it or my cad visadebit/credit there but the MC cashpassport That I had few spare dollars on it did
Deal Addict
May 11, 2005
2182 posts
218 upvotes
Ajax, ON, Canada
My dad recently had issues on using STACK on his mobile wallet (he has a Google Pixel 3a). He was able to tap using his phone in the past, but recently it gave him issues. Here's what I had remembered from his experience:

1) He tapped his phone at one place (i.e. McDonald's) - the issue happened.
2) After trying one place, he went to another place (i.e. Walmart) to tap his phone - the issue persists.
3) He also tried to tap using the phyiscal card - but it gave him the same problems when he tapped using his card linked to his phone.
4) The only thing that his card actually worked - is when he inserts his card in the chip reader and entered his PIN.

To further summarize, out of all the places that he tried to tap using his phone and his physical card - they all got declined on many occasions.

I've tried to narrow down the root cause for these instances. From my findings, this is what I had found:
1) The POS terminal might not be functioning or it doesn't support the card
2) There might be an issue with the Google Pay app linked to his Google account

My dad had called STACK customer support and discussed about the issue - in the end, he agreed that they will provide him a new physical card. The virtual card number (that he can use for online purchases and mobile wallets) remained un-affected. I've helped him removed the virtual card and then re-add it on his Google Pay app - we'll have to wait and see if doing that makes a difference.

Has anyone encountered this type of situation before?
Deal Addict
Feb 17, 2017
1318 posts
1145 upvotes
FutureHeartsJunkie wrote: My dad recently had issues on using STACK on his mobile wallet (he has a Google Pixel 3a). He was able to tap using his phone in the past, but recently it gave him issues. Here's what I had remembered from his experience:

1) He tapped his phone at one place (i.e. McDonald's) - the issue happened.
2) After trying one place, he went to another place (i.e. Walmart) to tap his phone - the issue persists.
3) He also tried to tap using the phyiscal card - but it gave him the same problems when he tapped using his card linked to his phone.
4) The only thing that his card actually worked - is when he inserts his card in the chip reader and entered his PIN.

To further summarize, out of all the places that he tried to tap using his phone and his physical card - they all got declined on many occasions.

I've tried to narrow down the root cause for these instances. From my findings, this is what I had found:
1) The POS terminal might not be functioning or it doesn't support the card
2) There might be an issue with the Google Pay app linked to his Google account

My dad had called STACK customer support and discussed about the issue - in the end, he agreed that they will provide him a new physical card. The virtual card number (that he can use for online purchases and mobile wallets) remained un-affected. I've helped him removed the virtual card and then re-add it on his Google Pay app - we'll have to wait and see if doing that makes a difference.

Has anyone encountered this type of situation before?
He’s pushing credit and not debit right? It’s just that’s usually what happens if you push debit for a credit transaction.
Deal Addict
Dec 22, 2007
1657 posts
1316 upvotes
Mississauga
FutureHeartsJunkie wrote: My dad recently had issues on using STACK on his mobile wallet (he has a Google Pixel 3a). He was able to tap using his phone in the past, but recently it gave him issues. Here's what I had remembered from his experience:

1) He tapped his phone at one place (i.e. McDonald's) - the issue happened.
2) After trying one place, he went to another place (i.e. Walmart) to tap his phone - the issue persists.
3) He also tried to tap using the phyiscal card - but it gave him the same problems when he tapped using his card linked to his phone.
4) The only thing that his card actually worked - is when he inserts his card in the chip reader and entered his PIN.

To further summarize, out of all the places that he tried to tap using his phone and his physical card - they all got declined on many occasions.

I've tried to narrow down the root cause for these instances. From my findings, this is what I had found:
1) The POS terminal might not be functioning or it doesn't support the card
2) There might be an issue with the Google Pay app linked to his Google account

My dad had called STACK customer support and discussed about the issue - in the end, he agreed that they will provide him a new physical card. The virtual card number (that he can use for online purchases and mobile wallets) remained un-affected. I've helped him removed the virtual card and then re-add it on his Google Pay app - we'll have to wait and see if doing that makes a difference.

Has anyone encountered this type of situation before?
as much details as your dad provided it almost impossible to say what is causing this?

possible scenarios are

Card it self / phone : Either physical damage or card has enough knowledge to limit its usage
the store itself: issue with the pinpad either physical / software / configuration
the bank: could just be declining contactless transactions

if it happens again you can ask your dad to see if the pinpad beeps once kinda long or a couple beeps rather quickly. one long beep means card/phone works .. couple of beeps means pinpad is rejecting the card
to see if it at the store or bank you can ask your dad if there is a receipt or some indicator that it was declined

there are other things which do get more complicated to troubleshoot but its all doable. my money is on the bank declining the transaction for some reason which the person on the phone will not know.
Deal Addict
Feb 17, 2017
1318 posts
1145 upvotes
DeletedMemories wrote: there are other things which do get more complicated to troubleshoot but its all doable. my money is on the bank declining the transaction for some reason which the person on the phone will not know.
Another common issue with Google Pay is that the cards token ends up out of sync (essentially the one time security code ends up out of date). Google suffers from this more than the other payment platforms due to it using host card emulation (essentially pulling card info from the cloud) as opposed to Apple/Samsung Pay where all the info is stored on the secure element on the phone. Removing the card and adding it again usually fixes it.

The bank would see the authorization attempt but may get a confusing decline message and not know what to tell the customer.
Deal Addict
May 11, 2005
2182 posts
218 upvotes
Ajax, ON, Canada
CanadianSpruce wrote:
To further summarize, out of all the places that he tried to tap using his phone and his physical card - they all got declined on many occasions.


He’s pushing credit and not debit right? It’s just that’s usually what happens if you push debit for a credit transaction.
We'll, i just don't know. Depends on the merchant - either if the cashier presses debit and he taps his Stack MasterCard (using physical or the one linked to the mobile wallet). Probably there some miscommunication between the merchant and himself - from my worse case scenario.
DeletedMemories wrote:
as much details as your dad provided it almost impossible to say what is causing this?

possible scenarios are

Card it self / phone : Either physical damage or card has enough knowledge to limit its usage
the store itself: issue with the pinpad either physical / software / configuration
the bank: could just be declining contactless transactions

if it happens again you can ask your dad to see if the pinpad beeps once kinda long or a couple beeps rather quickly. one long beep means card/phone works .. couple of beeps means pinpad is rejecting the card
to see if it at the store or bank you can ask your dad if there is a receipt or some indicator that it was declined

there are other things which do get more complicated to troubleshoot but its all doable. my money is on the bank declining the transaction for some reason which the person on the phone will not know.

It's still impossible to figure out what had resulted with the card being declined, but this is the information I can provide so far.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 11, 2005
2379 posts
4561 upvotes
Airdrie, AB
FutureHeartsJunkie wrote: To further summarize, out of all the places that he tried to tap using his phone and his physical card - they all got declined on many occasions.
Has anyone encountered this type of situation before?
Sorry to point out the obvious... any chance he inadvertently froze (locked) the card in the app? I've done that before and caused myself grief.
Deal Addict
May 11, 2005
2182 posts
218 upvotes
Ajax, ON, Canada
CalgaryBen wrote: Sorry to point out the obvious... any chance he inadvertently froze (locked) the card in the app? I've done that before and caused myself grief.
Both the virtual and physical card was not locked from my observations.

Probably he might have tapped to quickly or somewhere in between...
Sr. Member
Sep 26, 2011
606 posts
196 upvotes
FutureHeartsJunkie wrote: Both the virtual and physical card was not locked from my observations.

Probably he might have tapped to quickly or somewhere in between...
had that happen once with td app for a easygo vending machine had to insert card to complete transaction
Deal Addict
May 11, 2005
2182 posts
218 upvotes
Ajax, ON, Canada
An update from my dad's issue: we were able to remove the virtual card off his Google Pay and re-added it back in to solve the issue of why his card wasn't tapped properly.

As for the physical card - it's currently in the mail (at the time of writing).
Member
User avatar
Jul 29, 2016
251 posts
222 upvotes
Hey everyone, I ran into a pickle and was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how to best handle this.

Long story short - via my own bank account (PC financial), I did a bill payment to a family member's Stack Account. When I did the linkage originally last year there was no requirement from what I recall that name of bank account must match name of Stack account holder (for the purpose of loading an account via bill payment). In fact, I have loaded my family member's bank account via Bill Payment multiple times successfully prior to this latest one. I tried it again on Feb 14 and the payment never showed up after the customary 3-4 business days. After investigating and contacting both Stack and my bank, I was told of this new policy and that because they did not "Accept" the payment due to the alleged name mismatch, my only option is to call my bank to recall the payment.

It cost $24 to recall the bill payment and I have never heard a situation before where a merchant can "refuse" a bill payment. What's the best recourse here? Stack won't budge. Should I do the recall with my bank and follow up with Stack's ombudsman process to attempt to collect later?
Toronto Raptors 2018-2019 NBA Champions
Deal Guru
Jan 30, 2012
10043 posts
3758 upvotes
multi city dweller
pointsdude wrote: Hey everyone, I ran into a pickle and was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how to best handle this.

Long story short - via my own bank account (PC financial), I did a bill payment to a family member's Stack Account. When I did the linkage originally last year there was no requirement from what I recall that name of bank account must match name of Stack account holder (for the purpose of loading an account via bill payment). In fact, I have loaded my family member's bank account via Bill Payment multiple times successfully prior to this latest one. I tried it again on Feb 14 and the payment never showed up after the customary 3-4 business days. After investigating and contacting both Stack and my bank, I was told of this new policy and that because they did not "Accept" the payment due to the alleged name mismatch, my only option is to call my bank to recall the payment.

It cost $24 to recall the bill payment and I have never heard a situation before where a merchant can "refuse" a bill payment. What's the best recourse here? Stack won't budge. Should I do the recall with my bank and follow up with Stack's ombudsman process to attempt to collect later?
you should ask your bank what happen to the rejected fund ... it should go right back to yr account in my opinion ... perhaps just wait a few more days and see ... ?
Member
User avatar
Jul 29, 2016
251 posts
222 upvotes
LOL808 wrote: you should ask your bank what happen to the rejected fund ... it should go right back to yr account in my opinion ... perhaps just wait a few more days and see ... ?
good idea on waiting - i shall do that. Interesting part is how Stack is wording the rejection, they are alleging that they did not "reject" any bill payments, they simply "did not accept it" due to name mismatch. My bank said the money is most likely with Stack in a centralized holding pool and outside of recalling the BP (which cost $24), they are unsure if anything will be resolved automatically.
Toronto Raptors 2018-2019 NBA Champions
Deal Addict
May 26, 2011
1538 posts
1228 upvotes
pointsdude wrote: Hey everyone, I ran into a pickle and was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how to best handle this.

Long story short - via my own bank account (PC financial), I did a bill payment to a family member's Stack Account. When I did the linkage originally last year there was no requirement from what I recall that name of bank account must match name of Stack account holder (for the purpose of loading an account via bill payment). In fact, I have loaded my family member's bank account via Bill Payment multiple times successfully prior to this latest one. I tried it again on Feb 14 and the payment never showed up after the customary 3-4 business days. After investigating and contacting both Stack and my bank, I was told of this new policy and that because they did not "Accept" the payment due to the alleged name mismatch, my only option is to call my bank to recall the payment.

It cost $24 to recall the bill payment and I have never heard a situation before where a merchant can "refuse" a bill payment. What's the best recourse here? Stack won't budge. Should I do the recall with my bank and follow up with Stack's ombudsman process to attempt to collect later?
Is this same when we try to BP from Paypower to Stack? I've heard this stopped working a couple of years ago.
Freedom mobile, airbnb, AMEX, Great Canadian Rebates (GCR), Ebates, Top Cash Back, Groupon, Livingsocial, Doordash, SkipTheDishes, Checkout 51, Drop, Stack, Wise, Questrade, EQ, Achieva, PayTM, Simplii and Tangerine customer.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 11, 2005
2379 posts
4561 upvotes
Airdrie, AB
grilw wrote: Well now it's just utterly unprofessional ... I tried to e-Transfer load , and got the following email:

================================================================================
Thank you for loading your STACK Pre-Paid Mastercard. Unfortunately we are currently experiencing issues with our e-Transfer service, and are investigating now.

If you require access to the funds immediately, you are able to cancel the e-Transfer and the funds will return to your original bank.

In the meantime, we suggest funding you account using Bill Pay Load or via Cash Load at Canada Post.

We apologize for the delay.
=========================================
Did your e-Transfer eventually go through? I just got this too. At least this time, the status page correctly shows e-Transfer loading is down (again).

Luckily it was just $20 that I loaded, to possibly take advantage of the $1 CB for $10 groceries offer this month (redeem up to 3 times now) and $1 CB for $10 fast food (one time). I keep asking myself why I bother, but then I get suckered back in...
Deal Fanatic
Oct 3, 2018
6413 posts
7003 upvotes
GTA
CalgaryBen wrote: I keep asking myself why I bother, but then I get suckered back in...
@CalgaryBen, lol!

Me: "We don't need to go out today"

Spouse, "Great"

Me: "Oh, we have to go to SDM"

Spouse: "Can you stop looking at RFD?"
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 20, 2017
1284 posts
1568 upvotes
Kitchener
Finally got my inactivity notice ... Gonna let it lapse and let them shut down the account.

Really sad there promos are so weak the last year I don't even look anymore. At launch / first year they were great. Too bad they failed.

Long live KOHO i guess, as a general cashback / easy free / good promos prepaid card, it easily wins. Stack just didn't work hard enough to keep up.
(ofcourse crypto card the best by miles, but that's a whole different segment/category since for it to be good you have to invest )
Deal Addict
Mar 14, 2014
1354 posts
2023 upvotes
Eleventeen wrote: Finally got my inactivity notice ... Gonna let it lapse and let them shut down the account.

Really sad there promos are so weak the last year I don't even look anymore. At launch / first year they were great. Too bad they failed.

Long live KOHO i guess, as a general cashback / easy free / good promos prepaid card, it easily wins. Stack just didn't work hard enough to keep up.
(ofcourse crypto card the best by miles, but that's a whole different segment/category since for it to be good you have to invest )
I'll keep it going to pay my monthly Netflix billing. The exchange rate seems to have worked out okay. I'm holding out hope that later this year I'll be able to use it for foreign ATM withdrawals.
Deal Addict
Feb 4, 2019
2687 posts
4430 upvotes
BC
I find it worth keeping Stack alive. Even though I have better cards for foreign ATM withdrawals, it's good to have multiple options in the toolbox. Every 3 months or so I just load a few dollars on Stack and put a small charge on it. Lots of easy ways to do this without having to carry the card or even leave the house.

Top

Thread Information

There is currently 1 user viewing this thread. (0 members and 1 guest)