Keep an eye on your mail this week. You may receive a plain white envelope from Wilmington, DE with some money you thought you had lost. PerkStreet is issuing checks to ex-customers of their closed Perks program.
Flashback: August 12, 2013
PerkStreet, a subsidiary of Bankcorp Bank, left many customers wondering what happened when they announced that they would be closing their doors in September 2013.
The announcement came in an email to PerkStreet customers on August 12, 2013. There was no warning, not even to those who worked closely with them like Dave Ramsey’s Lampo Group, and all Perks their customers were collecting were cancelled.
Listen to an interview with PerkStreet CEO, Dan O’Malley, about what happened to PerkStreet.
Many customers were upset as they had allowed their Perks to accumulate with the idea of redeeming them for gift cards or cash to be used to buy Christmas presents.
Cutting off the program and keeping the Perks was all legal and consistent with the terms of PerkStreet’s Rewards Program Agreement, but nobody likes to have the icing removed from their piece of cake.
Fast-forward to Jun 21, 2014
I had just finished mowing the front yard when USPS pulled up to our curb. She handed me the mail with a smile and I shuffled through the variety of junk mail and solicitations.
However, one envelope caught my eye. It was from Wilmington, DE. Slicing the envelope open with my index finger I was surprised to find a check for $41.25. It was the exact amount as the Perks I had to leave behind.
The check was accompanied with a letter:
“Here’s some good news for you as an eligible participant in the former PerkStreet Perks Program! The cash value of your unredeemed Perks balance is being paid to you through the enclosed check.”
Cool. I like unexpected checks in the mail.
Who gets a check?
You can expect a check if you had a Perks balance greater than $15 prior to August 12, 2013.
PerkStreet eliminated the redemption fee (2 perks or $2 per $20 cash redemption) and sent the checks via U.S. mail on June 13, 2014. They ask that you allow 12 to 15 business days for your check to arrive.
If you have any problems receiving your Perks redemption check they ask you email Customer Care at support@myperkstreet.com or call toll-free 866-792-2834.
What to do with your PerkStreet Perks check
Treat this unexpected bonus as income. Then, apply it to wherever you are in your Baby Steps:
1) Save $1,000 in the bank for emergencies
2) Pay off all non-mortgage debt
3) Increase emergency savings to 3 to 6 months worth of expenses
4) Save 15% of your gross income in retirement plans
5) Save for kid’s college (if you choose to)
6) Pay off the house early
7) Well, just give it away. We’ve all gotten past this PerkStreet debacle so you really weren’t expecting it anyway.
Another alternative:
I deposited my PerkStreet Perks check into our checking account, allocated it into our budget using YNAB, and the money is making its way towards our next big savings goal: Replacing the windows in our drafty house!
What is your plan for your PerkStreet Perks check?
Wow, I didn’t see that one coming! When Perkstreet shut its doors I was upset but I was never angry about losing my perks because I had just cashed some out a few weeks before we heard they were closing. It frustrated me how many people complained at the time about “losing” their perks. Glad to see that they will make good with people, even though I personally always looked at the perks as just that – a perk – and not something I was entitled to.
My wife and I received our check for roughly $120 earlier this week, which was a nice surprise. However, our bank (Bank of the West) will not agree to deposit the check since they cannot verify the funds. A phone call to Bancorp by our bank was also not helpful in resolving the issue. In short, they told us not to try and cash it since Bancorp won’t verify the funds exist; if we force it through and the funds don’t follow, we would be charged a $12 returned-check fee.
Anyone else had this issue with their bank? Should we feel confident forcing the check through against Bank of the West’s advice?
Well that’s unusual. My bank didn’t even raise an eyebrow and deposited it on Saturday. I’ll definitely let you know if it bounces.
However, it would seem really weird if it does bounce. If this is a scam then how did they get the customer list? How did they know the correct amount? What do they have to gain by scamming customers?
Suggestion: Wait for 2 more weeks. If the checks are bad then YOU WILL HEAR ABOUT IT. If you don’t hear anything then push it through.
We received a surprise check too for $116.26!
Received check today. Has anyone cashed check yet? Nice, unexpected surprise to receive check.
Hi Liz. I deposited mine on Saturday. One reader said their bank didn’t think it would go through (see comments above). If it is a scam then it’s a really good one!
Thanks Steve!
Our bank also felt something was “fishy” with the checks and called and were told that the ABA #’s were incorrect. Please keep me posted on what everyone else finds out. Thanks!
I wonder if this is the issue we have as well. It could be a discrepancy between Perkstreet and Bancorp ABA numbers somehow. I will force our deposit through and see what happens. Potentially paying $12 to get over $120 is a fair risk I’d say!
Laura, I just heard from someone who never closed their PerkStreet account (and it transferred to a Bancorp account). Her Perks were deposited directly into her account – so I think that covers it!
Received our check on Saturday, deposited via iPhone, and waiting to see if it gets shot back at us from our Credit Union. It’s only $36 and it was totally unexpected so it’s not even a part of our YNAB budget so no big deal either way, as far as we’re concerned.
I also received a rebate check in the mail last week for our Perk Street rewards balance. However, this “check” looks suspect to me. It looks like a photocopy, with the entire back of the check watermarks dark like when you photocopy a check. Also, the little padlock logo which is supposed to be a security measure, is incomplete on the front edge of the check, like it was photocopied and the margin was not aligned, cutting off the right half of the logo.
Have any of you had this type of check and successfully cashed it? I called Bancorp to try to verify it, and they say it’s legit, but I’m not buying it. I told them I was not comfortable depositing a photocopied check in case it was a scam. They said they will send a real check out and stop payment on this one, so we will see if it shows in the mail.
My bank and I were suspicious, but the check deposited without any problems.
Do you have the contact infor for Bancorp?
Check just bounced for me. I was charged $12 for returned check by my bank! 🙁
No way! What’s up with your bank?
Let me look into this. Give me a week or two.
The reason I see is:
Your Payor’s bank returned the check with the reason “Refer to Maker.” You should contact your Payor for additional details
It looks like my twenty something dollar refund check cleared.
My credit union said if there was a problem with the check, it generally takes 10 business days to show as a problem.
If it does bounce, I’ll be charged $5 for it.
To get back on topic here 🙂 our bank did not like the look of the checks (one for myself and one for my daughter) so I called Perkstreet and they had us mail them back and promised they would be reissued promptly. Two months later no checks….I called Perkstreet today and they said they never got the checks back. Hmmm….I mailed mine and my daughters in separate envelopes and verified the address with them while on the phone. After quite a long series of “hold” times for the representative to help me, she said they will call me back within 24 hours with an update on their “research”. I will believe it when I see it.