{"id":2664,"date":"2015-11-12T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T17:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2025-04-29T17:27:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T17:27:04","slug":"exclusive-russell-simmons-speaks-out-on-rushcard-glitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2015\/11\/12\/exclusive-russell-simmons-speaks-out-on-rushcard-glitch\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Russell Simmons speaks out on RushCard glitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Stacy M. BrownNNPA Contributing Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell Simmons hasn\u2019t slept much since news broke in mid-October that users of his RushCard couldn\u2019t access their own money and were locked out of their accounts, due to a computer glitch, leaving some unable to make rent payments, pay utility bills or buy groceries for their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTechnology glitches happen, but this was a tsunami,\u201d said Simmons in an exclusive, hour-long interview with the NNPA News Wire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users began experiencing problems when Simmons\u2019 company switched to a new transaction-processing provider, something that he said they\u2019ve done successfully at least four times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe made the transfer of processes four separate times in the past and the next thing you know, I get a text message that we sent to our customers that we were down for two hours,\u201d said Simmons, the iconic business magnate who founded Def Jam Records and the Phat Farm clothing line. \u201cOur call center usually gets about 600 calls and now it\u2019s [getting] 600,000 calls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons said that three multi-billion dollar corporations were involved in the process and each has been helpful in resolving the technical issues related to the latest transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons credited MasterCard CEO Ajaypal Singh Banga with immediately responding to the problem and helping to fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the CEO of a $120 billion company and he picked the telephone up on the first ring,\u201d Simmons said, adding that Banga has talked a lot about finding ways to reach underserved communities and others who don\u2019t use traditional banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the aftermath of the outage that wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands of cardholders, RushCard created a multi-million dollar fund to compensate customers who were affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons also said that he has heard the criticism about the outage loud and clear and he\u2019s accepted it and now he\u2019s doing everything in his power to make his cardholders whole, even going beyond that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way I view it, I will take every complaint and claim and pay it, if it has any legitimacy,\u201d said Simmons. \u201cI\u2019ve heard people being put out of their apartments or in the hospital needing medicine and what I have done, what I do, is if they say they [lost] $400, I\u2019ve given them back that exact amount and I\u2019ve also adjusted their fees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to restoring customer accounts in full, Simmons said that from Nov. 1, 2015 through February 29, 2016, RushCard customers will enjoy a no-fee holiday, which will exempt card users from paying monthly, transaction and ATM fees during that period. People who open new accounts will also be eligible for the no-fee holiday benefits, but all cardholders will still be responsible for paying third-party fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it will cost him money, he said it\u2019s just one way of regaining the trust of his loyal base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like when this company is really profitable, then we can go out and help the community in a way that no bank, no non-Black institution ever will,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UniRush, LLC, the company that owns RushCard, was co-founded by Simmons 12 years ago to help low-to-moderate income individuals and families have an easier time paying bills and managing their money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe RushCard is the embodiment of my message of empowerment, because it is a better and more transparent option for millions of \u2018underbanked\u2019 and \u2018unbanked\u2019 Americans, who often suffer at the hands of large financial institutions,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reported that Black households are more likely to be unbanked (20.5 percent), which means that they don\u2019t have an account at an insured institution, than their White counterparts. Less than 4 percent of Whites are considered unbanked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly 33 percent of Black households are considered underbanked, which means that even though they have a bank account, they have also relied on alternative financial services within the last 12 months. About 16 percent of White households are underbanked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons said that those workers are locked out of the American Dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it was so important to put plastic in their hands, so they could go online and pay their bills,\u201d explained Simmons. \u201cWhat I learned is that we can get their [direct deposits] to them two and sometimes three days earlier. We give it to them as soon as it\u2019s posted and it keeps them away from payday loans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulators have argued against the use of prepaid cards, citing high fees and the ease in which scam artists could access accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the outcry by federal regulators and others before and since the RushCard technical problems began, Simmons said that he\u2019s providing a service for the underserved and others that they either don\u2019t have access to traditional banking services or are being overcharged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons added, \u201cNo one else is giving it to them, this service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons also said that fees for his card aren\u2019t as high as other prepaid cards and RushCard members have access to 25,000 free ATMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Bankrate.com<\/a>, the Prepaid Visa RushCard \u201cPay As You Go Plan\u201d is among a handful of cards that have no monthly maintenance fees. The card does carry an activation fee that ranges between $3.95 and $9.95 and users are also charged 50 cents for every out-of-network ATM balance inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comparison, Walmart\u2019s MoneyCard Plus has a $3 monthly maintenance fee, an activation fee that can be as high as $4 and charges $1 for every ATM balance inquiry, except for inquiries made at MoneyPass ATMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons said his company has hired additional employees to help answer and resolve customer complaints and that cardholders should continue to report problems and any financial hardships caused by the two-week outage to the RushCard call center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want my customers to know that we will restore RushCard as the gold standard of [prepaid debit card] services in our community,\u201d said Simmons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simmons continued: \u201cI want to assure those who rely on the RushCard that I will not rest until we have regained your trust.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stacy M. BrownNNPA Contributing Writer Russell Simmons hasn\u2019t slept much since news broke in mid-October that users of his RushCard couldn\u2019t access their own money and were locked out of their accounts, due to a computer glitch, leaving some unable to make rent payments, pay utility bills or buy groceries for their families. \u201cTechnology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1680,1679,1678],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nnpa-news-wire","tag-rushcard","tag-russell-simmons","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2665,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions\/2665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}