Vanilla Prepaid Cards Reviews

The Vanilla Gift card I bought today (3-3-26) was repeatedly unable to be used to purchase vitamins online because the payment processing was "declined -security policy" each of the 4 times I tried to use it. They Vanilla Gifts placed the card on hold so it the funds can't be accessed at all now. I am trying to contact someone to address this situation but have not succeeded. This company should be avoided. Its products do not work and the customer has no way to correct the malfunction of the product. In short, a rip off.

I was given a gift card for my birthday and I tried to use it but the sale never went through! You can not talk to anyone (they have no customer service) and when I try to dispute a purchase nothing happens! A complete rip off!

I purchased a Vanilla gift card in 2024 with expiration of 2030. I used partial balance in 2024 but when I went to use the rest at a gas station in Feb 2026, my card declined. I spoke with 2 customer care reps and neither could help. One even told me it had a negative balance and also a 30$ balance. After saying that was impossible and sounded absurd. She agreed and said it had a 30$ balance but was restricted but couldn’t tell me why it was restricted. She couldn’t do anything to help me because I didn’t have the receipt either from two years ago. I WILL NEVER USE VANILLA GIFT CARD AGAIN. USE OTHER GIFT CARD SERVICES!!!

Vanilla Gift Card is a fraudulent company, as they know everybody received it as a gift from their friend and no one keeps the track of receipt. There is no customer service available to look after the issues and when you call their customer care, no human interference is there. My card doesn't contain CVV, so I'm completely lost. Received it as a gift from a friend and he doesn't track the receipts and now company is taking advantage of it. They said they issue a replacement card and it's been 3 months, and I never received a replacement and has no track of it. Everyone, please avoid purchasing and gifting it to your loved ones.

Their customer service is absurd. I called the number and waited 20 minutes. The agent was completely clueless and useless. I've ordered their cards every year, and for the last two years, they've sent me only half the order claiming that they didn't have the others. The only difference in the cards was color. If they had simply contacted me via phone or email, we could have easily changed the colors as needed. As is, I'm bumping up against my deadline with only half the cards in hand. I'll never use them again.

Absolute scam. Card is refused multiple times at different merchants. Check balance online, shows card is "active" and has the original gifted balance. Tried using online - refused. Called customer service...on hold for 10+minutes; off-shore phone bank of "agents"; explain issue and you're told to try a different vendor/merchant. When you ask questions that require specific answers, they put you back on hold, leave you there and then hang up. Really?

Do not buy these cards, I feel like it’s a scam. They do everything possible that the cards decline, when you call to activate they say there’s a problem and then the card still doesn’t work. You have to send pictures of the card and the packaging, I think they do it so people get tired and don’t hassle with it, I will be leaving a report with The BBB. This has happened to my mom and my sister's card so it’s a pattern. DO NOT PURCHASE!!!

This company should be shut down, nothing but a scam. Traveling and needed a card to pay some bills, loaded card and paid $8 fee, almost instantly they locked the card, no customer service , finally figured out a route to get a live person, that basically wouldn't do crap except close the card and say they would mail another in 3 to 5 weeks, highly doubt I'll ever see it. Government should shut this scam down but they won't because it's run by mega banks just trying to grab every penny the insurance industry and government aren't taking from you.

Two different cards totaling $150 are "inactive". Only recourse is to track a receipt down from the person that gave it to you. Only seems prevalent on cards purchased from this company. Total and complete rip off.

I purchased two Vanilla gift cards via WALMART.COM and neither card was activated, and neither company would accept responsibility for my loss. Overall, total loss = 50.00, I gave the card as a gift and was told by the person I gave it to that it was declined, when I called walmart they referred me to Vanilla gift card, when I called them, they wanted me to submit and fax several documents for my complaint. Please be aware of this company, it appears to be fraud.

I wouldn’t buy A Vanilla Gift Card. If they Gave Me one with 1000$ dollars on it it would decline. Anyway I was given a 75$ gift card as a Christmas gift and when I went to use it it declined. When I checked the Balance there was 14 cents on it. What a Joke. I called customer service and couldn’t understand a word she was saying. She was from another country and hardly spoke English. Joke. So Vanilla Gift Cards eat a Bag of Shit. Thanks for ripping me off!!!

I guess if I could pick zero I would. $500 gift card that will not let me activate the card and I have tried to get help and they don't respond. Waste of money. DON'T buy these gift cards. Total rip off.

The Vanilla cards are a scam. They never gave you the whole amount of your purchase for the card.. They limit the amount you can charge by a percentage of the card limit and always keeping the last 3 to 5 dollars. I don’t that’s not a lot, but it ends up being quite a profit for them when you add all the persons that purchased the cards. And people have to face the embarrassment of being rejected their gift cards.

I have had many issues with these cards. Most recent issue I bought a card and the funds on the card were already used in a different country before I even opened said card. When I called to complain they would not stop the transaction but said I had to wait for the transaction to go through then start a fraud investigation. I did as they said and although I live in Canada and the transaction was in a store in another country they concluded that it was not fraudulent transaction. This is not the first time Vanilla Prepaid has pulled this and they should be shut down.

This is a scam, I get Christmas bonus from the building I worked but the cleaning company Pritchard send my this scam instead. Decline in many stores and online. Also in can add it to my wallet. Don't use. Don't buy that crap.

Useless card tried three different websites that was selling what produce I wanted even a website that was more on price all declined. Not worth the ink it was printed. I am would like to given no star it is that much trach but I have to put one if I want to submit review. I will not ever recommend their business to no one. I don't think it would work even for gas.

The card is useless. Received as a gift for the holidays. Try using at the Specialty grocery store, declined, buy my son a gift at the Lego store, declined. Can't tell the my boss his gift is useless. DO NOT BUY THESE AS GIFTS.

Absolutely useless online and if you get too many declines, they completely deactivate your card. I tried to use it on Amazon. DECLINED. I try to use it on PlayStation. DECLINED. I try to use it at Walmart. DECLINED. Hard to talk to anyone and they have to mail a new card instead of reactivating the one you have. A complete scam.

Absolutely useless card! Do not buy as a gift for others, ever! My card is brand new, clearly displays balance of $20 online, and STILL IS NOT ACCEPTED AT RETAILERS. Tried to use at In N' Out Burger - declined multiple times. Tried to use at Rachel's Kitchen - declined multiple times. So do your loved ones a favor and NEVER, EVER purchase this useless card as a gift (unless of course you want them to be frustrated and embarrassed by multiple rejected transactions)!

I received a total of three gift cards ($100, $50, $50) over several meetings at the Los Angeles Organized Retail Crime conference - a coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail Loss Prevention. I held onto them and decided to use them recently, but when I went to activate them, all of them had a "system error" and would not activate. Calling their support and after waiting several minutes, I was told they can do nothing since I did not possess the original purchase receipt. In my opinion, based on my experience and the reviews I've read here, this is a fraudulent enterprise and I would not waste my money buying anything from this organization.

All the reviews are accurate in my personal experience regarding the run around with the customer service, activation that is supposedly successful but the card was declined at merchant, placement of the card arbitrary on hold for security reasons, two weeks delay to receive a new card, customer service that cannot remove the hold on the card. No option to provide feedback to the company, no manager to address the challenges and many other issues with the two gift cards that I received and were issued by this horrible company.

Recently received gift card from my company and immediately the visa gift card was put on hold on New Year’s Eve. I activated the card but spending $4 and card was put on hold. I called. customer service and no one available to resolve this issue.

DO NOT PURCHASE!! Vanilla has NO customer service. Only a website and computer automated phone number, which says to go to the website. We have not been able to reach a human being. We have a "pending" charge for a retailer we did not use and the funds have been depleted and we can't report the problem. Very frustrating!

This thing is a piece of crap declined on my 1st attempt to purchase something with it, kindly never buy these for anyone as a gift. It's a pain in the butt not to mention I had to wait 24 minutes for a customer rep for them to keep putting me on hold every other word said...

Horrible card… Tried the first time purchase was declined… Called. Horrible customer service. They said the card was flagged for fraud. I asked for an explanation and I got nothing. NOW HAVE TO WAIT 7 TO 10 BUSINESS DAYS FOR WHAT???? DON’T EVER BUY THIS FOR ANYONE. THIS COMPANY IS A FRAUD.

These cards and their customer service suck. I received one a few years ago and when I activated it was told there was less than a few dollars on it not 100.00. Funny how 9.95 was charge continually till there was no more 9.95 in the account. Their security sucks also. I called and they said they would investigate which took 4 months and was told there was nothing they could do. How sad that a person spent this money to give me a gift that could not be claimed. Today I received another one and tried to activate it and the website states system problems try later. Too bad I needed it now. These cards and company are a rip offs and I caution people to stay away from them and their 6.95 fee to buy the card. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY SECURITY FOR THE CARDS!!

I got a Vanilla gift card and no matter what I try it declines everywhere. If this isn't an outright scam, they need to figure out how to make it easier to use. I keep seeing people saying you need to register a billing address, but there's nowhere to do this. I've wasted an hour of my day dealing with this bs company. Do NOT use this company for gift cards.

Horrible experience. Purchased Xmas cards on 12/11. It's the 25th and no one can tell anything. Long story short I gotta wait 5 more days and no refunds to original card, they send out gift cards 😔. Overall I would never used this for anything.

Vanilla Gift Cards with XX funds at point of purchase are NOT usable at retailers. Example; A $30 Vanilla gift card purchase allows only $25 of usable moneys at retailers. A frustrated consumer tries to use $30 with denials, NO success therefore only using $25. After the consumer discards the gift card, the bank keeps the remaining $5. This is a banking scam that Consumer watch groups should look into and penalize these banks.

I received a gift of $500 on this card from a group of friends. It can not be used where a physical card is required (see website). It says on the website that you can use it in person with a merchant that accepts wallet payments from your smartphone if you have a card that can be added to your wallet. My card could not be added to my wallet - not supported for the Vanilla gift card purchased at Walgreens. Security settings online will generally cause the card to be declined. So I called customer service and asked if the representative could offer any single definite way to use the card. He could not offer a single suggestion. A supervisor was supposed to call me to discuss how I might use the funds.

This is an evil company that robs you of your money. Don't trust them and certainly do not give them your money. They will put a hold on your card and continue to not allow you to spend your gift card money.

Don't ever buy this cards. They are stealing from people. I just bought a card on Saturday 12/20 and tried to activate it the day after and it didn't go through so I called customer service and in order for them to help me they had to open a case to investigate but I was going to have to send them a copy of the receipt and proof of address and a lot of things that didn't make sense to me. I just figured they didn't want to give me my money back.

I purchased 3 Vanilla Visa gift cards, a total of $300. I sent them to a friend who tried to use them at a restaurant. Apparently, 2 out of the 3 were not working even though they showed activation at the location where I purchased them, CVS drug store. The person that received them had activated them over the phone as required but when they tried to use them, they were declined and deferred to using their personal bank debit card. They contacted me and sent them back. I issued them a personal check (would have been easier) for $300. I then contacted InComm to resolve. They determined that one card was fine, I then used it with no problem.

I feel like Vanilla prepaid and its issuing company - People’s Trust - are scamming people. Their customer care number is a joke. It’s hard to talk to any customer care company who basically just can’t help you, nor can they put you through to someone that can. If for any reason there’s something wrong with your card the card will become invalid. Their third party customer care will screw you around and be almost incapable of taking down the information you are giving to them. If you want a refund for their abhorrent non reloadable credit card service - you’re double screwed. These people shouldn’t be able to screw people out of money for months because they have a flawed and shit service. But mostly - even IF - I do get my money back. The whole process of getting it was a nightmare. You’re far better off to punch yourself right in the face.

Do not buy Vanilla Gift cards!!!! Avoid yourself the headache that will come when you need to reach out to customer service. I tried activating a card but the option was never available on the phone number provided. I tried activating it online via laptop and cell phone but an error message came up that my VPN was not allowing them access. I wasn't on VPN. After multiple calls and the run around I requested a refund. Now I need to wait for three weeks to get a CHECK! Do better Vanilla Gift.

Negative Review – Vanilla Gift Card / CVS Pharmacy. Case Number: **. Amount: $199.99. Location: CVS Pharmacy – 4800 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL. I purchased a Vanilla Gift Card for $199.99 at CVS Pharmacy (4800 Biscayne Blvd, Miami). The card was never activated properly, and four card numbers are missing. Despite contacting both CVS and Vanilla Gift Card support, neither company is willing to take responsibility. Each keeps shifting blame to the other, leaving me with no resolution and no refund. This feels like fraud and a coordinated lack of accountability between CVS and Vanilla. As a customer, I expected transparency and support, but instead I’ve been left with a useless card and lost money. I strongly advise others to avoid purchasing Vanilla Gift Cards, especially from CVS, until they fix these serious issues.

All I can say is scam scam scam. This company needs to be out of business. I have gotten and bought many visa cards. Never have I every experience anything like Vanilla visa gift card. My husband and I received one from our wedding as a gift. Me thinking I activated it went to the store to pick up a lil grocery just to find out the card wouldn't work so I called the card. The money was still on there so I had to call customer service, talk with them. They were no help saying I need my receipt just to activate the card. I told her it was a gift. I didn't have the receipt so she not caring what I'm saying. I'm holding up a line with my grocery. Now I have to put everything to the side.

Vanilla prepaid cards are an absolute scam dressed up as a financial product. They are wildly unreliable, riddled with hidden fees, and designed in a way that practically guarantees you’ll run into problems the moment you actually try to use your own money. Transactions randomly fail, cards get frozen for no clear reason, and customer support is so painfully useless that it feels intentional. You can load your money, but good luck accessing it when something goes wrong — you’re basically trapped in a system that has no real fixes and no real accountability.

Would give a 0 star review if possible. I purchased a $500 gift card. When opened the last 4 digits were scratched off so the card could not be used. After starting a claim with them and sending photos of the receipt, front and back of card and providing the serial number, they closed the claim saying there was nothing they could do. I called customer service to get information as to what type of investigation they did and to provide me with the transactions that were done with the card so I can dispute that and prove that it is fraudulent. The customer service supervisor said they could not search the transactions with just the serial number of the card. So when I responded saying, then you must have not followed through with a complete investigation to be able to close the claim and not provide a new loaded card, I got a completely different response.

Multiple attempts to use Vanilla card at Walmart and Main Event but unsuccessful and card declined. Used Vanilla contact number and automated message stated to use another merchant. No live person support.