[jenova_9]

I heard they can be bought from a pharmacy, but I wonder how they work because POL requires listing name, address, etc. would those prepaid cards have preset information to input, or what really matters is the credit card code and the 3 or 4 digit key code or whatever you call it?

that might be my only alternative for the time being since I can't borrow someone's CC at the current time.

but i I do buy one, should I get a $20 one? or is it better to have a $15 prepaid visa card?

hopefully they work and there's nothing tricky about making them work for FFXI. I'm more of the type that likes to pay up front anyway. so this may be the best way without having to worry about credit history.

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by jenova_9

so this may be the best way without having to worry about credit history.

Pre paid credit cards Check this thread.

What's the problem with your credit? You could also probably open a checking account at a bank/credit union that has visa/mastercard debit cards if you don't want to deal with credit. Basically a prepaid credit card is just a debit card in disguise.

[jenova_9]

I don't wanna use anything that is tied to my bank account. it sounds silly but I'm just paranoid like that. :p

well from that thread, FFXI only accepts visa or mastercard. but ya I guess prepaid cards do work. thanks ^_^

oh ya I got a notice this March that my POL account is closed until I input a new credit card information stuff, you know
so I'll just get a prepaid one, maybe about $20 and just input that stuff in there.

but what if the store only sells like $10 cards? would I have to buy two of them? I dont think that would work because they only accept one credit card number. so the credit has to be from the same card, not two cards.

[Van'derfel]

I think you can choose how much money to put on. When I went to Europe I had one with like $550 or somewhere around there on one.

[Aksannyi]

Those ones you buy at like CVS or w/e are tricky. I couldn't get one to work for me. What I did find that did work was Amscot. It's a check cashing place, but they also have a prepaid Mastercard. It's like having a debit card without having a bank account. You put the money on it, and that's how much you have. Always. I've been using it for almost a year now without any problems.

The big issue with the Prepaid ones you buy from CVS are that there's no name on it, no address. SE requires these, but you obviously don't have them, which became an issue for me. The Amscot one is yours, with your name and your address tied to it, so it works JUST like a debit Mastercard but ... isn't. If you have an Amscot nearby I'd recommend it, if not, see if any other national check cashing places have such a thing available.

People SAY the prepaid ones work, but when I tried, it didn't, and there was plenty available on the card.

[jenova_9]

thanks, I guess the safer alternative is to open a debit card account that has Visa or whatever on it.
Not sure if people's bank has that kind of service. hmmm.

oh wait I think I have to open a checking account first, then ask for a visa debit card, and I guess that's where I input
the address and stuff on it. then I'll have to dump some money into that account. I guess that's how it works.

so I guess I'll get a debit card tied to a checking account to receive a valid and working visa debit card.

but I can make that account separate from my savings account. that way I can control the money taken by SE should there be a case where I wanna cancel. if there's no money in that account, then all they can do is close my POL/FFXI account.

[ospeff]

Every pre-paid card I've tried does NOT work.

[jenova_9]

ya, I opened a Mastercard Debit Card checking account, I hear those work.

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by jenova_9

ya, I opened a Mastercard Debit Card checking account, I hear those work.

I had one and it worked. Had to change to visa because for some reason after my account was stolen, my Mastercard didn't work through the site when I tried to reregister.

[jenova_9]

ah that's terrible! I know someone who got their account stolen. its really terrible stuff. do you play on PC?

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by jenova_9

ah that's terrible! I know someone who got their account stolen. its really terrible stuff. do you play on PC?

Yeah I do, around that time there was a rash amount of stolen accounts like 1500's. There were ones on all three systems that had their accounts stolen.

[jenova_9]

waaaah! >.< It sounds like the hackers got a list of IDs and passwords from a hacked list or something before SE patched it, or maybe it was some other method. I wonder what SE is doing to prevent this from happening further?

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by jenova_9

waaaah! >.< It sounds like the hackers got a list of IDs and passwords from a hacked list or something before SE patched it, or maybe it was some other method. I wonder what SE is doing to prevent this from happening further?

Yeah this was awhile ago, like between October 2007 and April 2008 I think mine was stolen in February 2008 got it back at the beginning of March 2008.

[jenova_9]

oh how you got it back? was it tough talking to SE on the phone? or basically all the information allowed them to save your character?

I remember someone got theirs stolen and I think they used Allakahzam to track the character moved to anotehr server, but not sure what steps they took to try to retrieve it. but it's been like over 7 months and they haven't got it back so, not sure what went on and why they didn't get it back.

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by jenova_9

oh how you got it back? was it tough talking to SE on the phone? or basically all the information allowed them to save your character?

I remember someone got theirs stolen and I think they used Allakahzam to track the character moved to anotehr server, but not sure what steps they took to try to retrieve it. but it's been like over 7 months and they haven't got it back so, not sure what went on and why they didn't get it back.

If you look across the board you'll probably see how "good" SE's customer service was when it comes to stolen accounts. I think it is supposedly slightly better now than it was back when mine was stolen last year.

Basically I called SE to have them reset my password, they took my information down but couldn't reset the password because I only had 2 or 3 pieces of ID out of 5. This was because the RMT changed passwords and credit cards, addresses, and what not after they had acquired the accounts. Told me a supervisor would be calling me back. Waited 4-5 days and no supervisor called so I called back. The guy I talked to went and checked and said that the guy did file the Stolen Account form and that they were working on a process to fix it. During this time I happened to be checking BG's website and I found a form that SE was supposedly sending out and checked my email and they had sent the form. The form was a legal document stating that you were the true owner of the account and you had to have it signed by a notary to make it official. Luckily I work in a place that notarizes and I got mine for free. Then you mail it to SE. I wasn't gonna be a idiot so I sent it like Overnight Priority with a sign slip on it. After about 3-4 days they sent me a verification code via email to call back with. I called SE back and gave them the code and they reactivated and fixed my account. I belive now they have account rollback if your account is stolen, back then they didn't. Whole process took about 2 1/2-3 weeks.