Consumers who use RushCards to purchase groceries, gas and pay for other expenses recently were unable to use their cards for cash withdrawals or purchases, and some reported that their account balances did not include recent pay deposits and reported erroneous balances.

RushCards, an alternative to traditional banking, was founded by hip-hop legend Russell Simmons. While RushCards was intended to offer convenience, users are charged various fees including an activation fee of $3.95 to $9.95 and transaction fees of either $1.00 per transaction (up to $10 a month) or a $7.95 monthly charge for unlimited transactions.

Numerous RushCards users unsuccessfully attempted to contact customer service regarding their access issues while some that were able to get through were informed that their accounts could not be located.  The company issued a statement claiming that only “a small number of accounts are still in an inactive state.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed stronger regulation of the prepaid card industry, but they are not yet effective.