Update 3/25/20: Mango has just sent an e-mail out and this new cap of $2,500 will now apply to legacy account holders as well (as well as the new debit card spend requirement). To make matters worse when sending out the e-mail they just sent it out to 20 account holders at a time in the same ‘to’ field meaning people’s e-mail addresses, addresses, full names etc are exposed.
Update: Existing members from 10/26/18 and prior will retain ALL of the old terms ($800 requirement and $5,000 limit and probably PIN purchase option).
The Mango prepaid card used to be one of the best options around with 6% back on balances up to $5,000 with a low monthly fee. It became largely irrelevant when they basically began requiring $800 of spend on the debit card each month to get that rate (longer explanation here).
Over the past few days, they updated the website with three new changes:
- They’ve now lowered the 6% rate to just $2,500 instead of $5,000 bringing down the value further.
- They now require $1,500 in purchases (previously $800).
- They now stipulate that the purchases be signature purchases (previously PIN purchases worked too).
Not sure if/when these changes will go into effect for existing users, but it’s certainly dead for new users. Anyway, with interest rates rising. the 6% is less appealing than before.
Hat tip to Mario G on Twitter
View Comments (138)
It has monthly fee of $5 without DD and inactivity fee of $8 if 90 days without transactions.
Is this account still valid?
I got my card and opened savings, so it’s still valid account, should pay interest with 800 DD and 1500 in spending. Apple Cash transaction shows as purchase. Will update if I will get the interest.
Anyone still keeping their Mango accounts alive? I didn't get any interest at all this month on my account and P2s... happen to anyone else?
I ended up keeping my Mango account alive but have a zero balance on it since April 2020. Maybe one day Mango might reverse their stance after seeing a mass exodus of customers closing accounts or withdrawing all their money.
So is better to close it or zero it out and leave it open?
I am not sure what the benefit of leaving it open is. Are you assuming that Mango might revert back to the old terms in the future if this backfires on them?
I don't see any reason to keep it open, I just wanted to make sure.
Mango pulled some BS on the April 2020 interest even though the new terms don't apply until May 1. I only received $8.18 on a 2.01% rate for the month of April instead of 6.02% and I even did a $800 DD to just ensure it would cover the month of April. It is time to get rid of this stupid card and move on.
Anyone else seeing this on their account or did Mango just screw this up?
Same for me, received 2% APR for April vs ~5% I typically receive. Didn't change anything on this account from prior months (still $800 DD). Contemplating if it's worth my time to chase them for the missing $16...
@guest_969781 Please see my response below on an explanation of why I think I was not given the 6% interest and it was my own fault.
I received the normal interest amount like @guest_700967. Did you do anything different in April?
Hmm, I received approximately my standard monthly amount of ~$24
@guest_700967 @guest_946039 @guest_969781 Dammit I think I know what I screwed up on for the month of April. I think in the beginning of the month I screwed up and did an ACH withdrawal of $24.85 on 4/7 since I initially was planning to close the card in April.
However I did more research and then decided to hold on through April and I only did a DD of $800 on 4/10 and it wasn't enough to cover the offset ($800 - $24.85 = $775.15) since in the eyes of the Mango system I only did a DD of $775.15 which is short of the $800 required for the 6% interest. What I should have realized now was that I needed to do a DD of $850 instead of just $800 on 4/10 to cover this offset and then I would have earned 6% on my savings. I will chuck this up to this being my fault and move on.
Ah glad you mentioned that. I did basically the same thing so I guess the “net ACH” for the month didn’t meet the $809 requirement even though I had $800 in new money come in.
So based on reading comments below, the best way is to just wait until end of April and make sure to meet the $800 direct deposit. And then make sure to zero out the balance by pulling all your funds out of the account and then let them know you want to close the account without getting hit with any sort of fee except for the $3 monthly fee from April. Not bad, I guess I'll just wait until end of this month and do my usual thing but initiate some transfers on April 30th.
You also still have to do the $800 money order (or some form of $800 spend) to get the interest for April.
I didn't have any spend in March and still received the full interest so April should be the same way.
So you just let your balance keep building up? Or maybe you didn't have max in savings?
No, I didn't buy a MO because I was planning on liquidating my account in early-April. Once Eric confirmed the $10 fee wouldn't be charged I decided to keep it open until May. I don't plan to buy a MO in May either.
Your interest gets credited on the last day of the month. Starting May 1st they will charge a $10 fee to close the account. If doesn't seem to indicate whether the fee will still be charged even if you manage to pull out your funds and zero out the account on the last day of April with your interest, but I'll safely assume you will be charged. But for those that have more than $2,500 in the account you have to keep in mind it will take you MORE than 1-day to pull your funds via ACH since there is a daily ACH limit of $2,500 so you might need to pull 2-4 ACH transactions each separated a day apart, so you're unlikely to pull your funds before the $10 FEE kicks in. Good luck but I'm bailing this month before the FEE.
I also bailed this month and am using the funds to chase down a bonus I couldn't have completed otherwise. I was able to pull the full $5k + interest out in one transfer.
Bye Mango it's been fun
April Fools!!! We know you will be back =)
Fortunately wasn't part of the fiasco where Mango was sending out emails to some members. Received their apology email though just an hour ago.
Is there any cheap way to sue them for exposing our sensitive information?
Amex Fangirl By the time you come up with a way to sue Mango, May would already be here and we should all be cancelling the card anyways. The spending requirements and the maximum amount to keep the 6% is just way more effort than it is to keep the card. The Mango card had its run but now it is time to retire the card.
In the terms it says you can file an arbitration, I don't know if this makes it forced. That would cost $200 minimum so not sure if cheap or not.
What are the requirements to get the 6%? Are there any minimum spend or direct deposit requirements? Also, is there a monthly fee to that account, can it be waived? THANKS !
Check out the links in the post.