Unemployment benefits accessed via debit card?

[proud2BlibKansan]

First, you lose your job and your paycheck.

Then the unemployment benefits that are supposed to keep you afloat get chewed around the edges by bank fees.

As Missouri’s unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent last month, many newly jobless workers are facing that situation after the state began phasing in a new system of paying unemployment benefits through bank debit cards.

Marie Williamson, who was laid off from the Chrysler truck plant in Fenton, said her bank told her she would be charged $2 to $3 to convert her debit card to cash. On top of that, the bank that issued the debit card – Central Bank in Jefferson City – would take another $1.75 unless she uses an automatic teller in Central Bank’s network.

“But I live in Mineral Point just outside Potosi,” Williamson said. “MasterCard told me the nearest no-fee ATM is 33½ miles away. By the time I pay for gas to drive there and back, I might as well pay the fees.”

more . . . http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/13844

[PVnRT]

1. I had thought those didn't go through banks

I thought they were like preloaded cards, and you got them refreshed periodically based on when you'd get a check. This scheme just sounds idiotic.

[marmar]

2. "Every step you take.....Every move you make......Every vow you break.....

....Every claim you stake....WE'LL be watching you."


Apologies to The Police. Such is life in Total Information Awareness Amurka.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. That sounds like someone wanted to take credit for saving the state costs

without regard to the cost to the recipient. At a minimum the Central Bank out-of-network fee should have been disallowed in the state contract. The idea of debit card benefits sounds good if one is wholly unaware of the potential fees associated with debit usage.

[billyoc]

4. New York state does this. Chase bank debit card.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Now If You Had A Balance Of 10k In An Account

You'll never pay for any fees...it's soaking the little guys that is how the banks are trying to make up the shortfalls from their wild loaning games of the past decade.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

6. Texas does it with Visa also

Here at home there are 5 ATM where I can use them, the one I use at the grocery store doesn't charge...but guess what...
If I use the ATM in wall-mart I get charged! :mad: I guess wall-mart thinks I can buy every thing I need at their store. There are some places that don't take Plastic, and since they log every thing I buy, I try to buy my good stuff with cash.

[Cleita]

7. I get my SS this way and I figured out a way not to pay ATM fees.

Use the debit card to pay for your groceries and ask for cash in addition. I have never paid an ATM fee this way even though at times I was
thousands of miles away from my bank.

[supernova]

9. Ding Ding! This is the answer

I am fortunate to have an account where I am reimbursed for ATM fees from other institutions. But I have often gotten around that by simply getting something small at the grocery store and then asking for them to tack on an extra $25 or whatever I needed and getting the rest back on cash. (Within reason. I wouldn't ask for $100 back for example.) No fees, no problem. In fact, in that scenario the store pays for the transaction. :P

In the case of unemployment debit cards, I would assume they look like regular debit cards? And you can use them where ever they take the "regular" version of the card?

[EV_Ares]

8. The costs for the unemployed are lower in many ways with the debit cards

They are getting their checks quicker and they are saving a lot of money because now they do not have to pay to get their checks cashed. There were a lot of people getting charged 25/30 bucks to get their unemployment checks cashed. These were generally people who didn't have a checking account.

There are some fees associated with the cards such as an out-of-network ATM which applies generally but they can get cash back when they use the cards at grocery stores, retail stores, etc without any costs.

If they lose the card, there is probably a fee for replacement.

Overall, seems like a much better system and I can see where it will save the states money as well.

[supernova]

10. I would imagine it might help w/ ID theft too

You aren't sitting at home waiting for a check or other paper work to show up in the mailbox, which is where a lot of ID theft starts.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. It's not a better system for the people who live 33 miles from the nearest ATM

MO is a very rural state.

[EV_Ares]

13. So would you say there are more unemployed in the cities than the

percentage that live 33 miles away from a ATM? It is like everything else, you are going to have to do what works for the most of the people. Also, if this is a new program, I imagine there will be some tweaking as is ussually done with new programs to improve it if they can.

[InkAddict]

11. Bet those "fees" find their way into the GOPers' campaign funds

In addition, once that debit account turns into anonymous cash, it's more difficult to track how it was used and by whom for what.

Wonder how Central Bank of Jefferson City is doing re: mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, hedge fund holdings of crap, and regular consumer credit card defaults? Guess Friends of * could do just fine if the contributions are ENOUGH, but just how much is that?


Here you go:
http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/sam-cook.asp?cycle=08