More info on the Bank of America's EDD coup

[Alameda]

I exhausted my unemployment, but the last two payments I got from them were funneled through BOA. Then they float the money. That is, they get the money from the gov, but don't make it available to you for a while. From the time they were supposed to send my card to the time I actually got it was a week. They make it very difficult to get the money deposited in your own bank. You have to go to the BOA website, and finding the exact place is not easy. All in all it's a run around, all the while they have your money and are floating it.

What a joke...bad joke that is. Why did they get the contract? Then there is the issue of ethics and public citizenship.....

Gar Smith wrote this excellent article on it.

Privatizing Unemployment: Bank of America’s Sacramento Coup
By Gar Smith

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2011-08-17/article/38248?headline=Privatizing-Unemployment-Bank-of-America-s-Sacramento-Coup

“Bank of America takes its role as a corporate citizen very seriously, and pays taxes in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations,” BofA’s Jerry Dubrowski maintains. But the DC-based activist group US Uncut calls BofA an “aggressive tax dodger” and raises the obvious question: “We pay our taxes. Why don’t they?” One answer to this question is strategic: Unlike the average taxpayer, BofA maintains 115 offshore tax havens around the world in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Singapore, the US Virgin Islands and elsewhere.)"

Then there is this next issue. I've been getting spammed with text messages and calls on my cell phone. It's not a smart phone and I've never gone to any website on it. This just started happening recently....after getting the damned card. I don't have a text plan, I have to pay for text messages.

“We collect your personal information… when you open an account or perform transactions,” BofA states. “We also collect your personal information from others.”

If you don’t want BofA to be calling you at home with commercial offers, you have to take the proactive step of asking to be placed on the bank’s Do Not Call list. Even that may not fully protect you since, as BofA notes: “We do not solicit via phone numbers listed on the state of federal Do Not Call lists, unless the law permits.” Residents of California are specifically assured: “We will limit sharing among our companies to the extent required by California law.” And, if you call BofA to complain, bear in mind that “If you communicate with us by telephone, we may monitor or record the call.” And you better remember this because, as the Agreement, notes “We need not remind you of our recording or monitoring before each call.”

BofA lists eight “reasons we can share your personal information.” These include: “For marketing purposes,” “For joint marketing,” “For our affiliates’ everyday business purposes — information about your transactions and experiences.”

Can you limit this “sharing” of personal information? In a word, “No.

[yellerpup]

1. K&R!

You asked the important questions. I hate BofA and wouldn't like to deal with them again.

[Alameda]

2. It just slipped through...Disaster Capitalism

some people tell me to worry about the big stuff...WTF....??? I think this is big stuff. A bank got bailed out, took mega taxpayer bucks, were part of the financial crisis, now they get control of more taxpayer money?

What is wrong with EDD doing direct deposit? Less run around.

edited for typo

[yellerpup]

3. Another good question, Alameda.

"What is wrong with EDD doing direct deposit?" I would like to know the answer.