Bye bye Mio

31

A few days ago, I received a letter from InComm Inc.  The letter was sent to inform me that my Mio card was going away.  They were somewhat coy about it.  The first part of the letter was about how the cardholder agreement will be changing as of October 15, 2013.  Some fees will be changing.  Some limits will be changing.  Yada yada yada…  Then, they subtly slipped in an “oh by the way..”:

…we’re pleased to notify you that your Mio Money Card is being upgraded to a MyVanillaTM Prepaid MasterCard

Ouch.  I’m going to be sorry to see my Mio go.  My Mio card is one of several types of Vanilla Reloadable cards that, unlike American Express cards, can be used as true debit cards.  For details about why that matters, please see “Vanilla Reloadables“.

What made my Mio special was simply that they never shut down my card.  My NetSpend card lasted only a week or two.  Many have had their MyVanilla cards shut down.  Other promising reloadable cards such as GoBank and AccountNow have proven to be equally fragile.  But my Mio card has been solid as a rock… until now.  Soon, though, it will be a fragile MyVanilla card.

There is another card out there, similar to Mio: the Momentum Visa.  Like the Mio card, it is only available in certain regions.  My guess is that it too will convert to MyVanilla.  Do any of you have the Momentum card?  Have you received a similar letter from Incomm?

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