Unemployed Forced To Pay Bank Fees To Collect Jobless Benefits

[babylonsister]

Jobless hit with bank fees on benefits

More pain for unemployed as banks turn profit on new debit card jobless benefits

CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
AP News

Feb 20, 2009 07:16 EST


For hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs during the recession, there's a new twist to their financial pain: Even as they're collecting unemployment benefits, they're paying bank fees just to get access to their money.

Thirty states have struck such deals with banks that include Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase and US Bancorp, an Associated Press review of the agreements found. All the programs carry fees, and in several states the unemployed have no choice but to use the debit cards. Some banks even charge overdraft fees of up to $20 — even though they could decline charges for more than what's on the card.

"It's a racket. It's a scam," said Rachel Davis, a 38-year-old dental technician from St. Louis who was laid off in October. Davis was given a MasterCard issued through Central Bank of Jefferson City and recently paid $6 to make two $40 withdrawals.

more...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/jobless_hit_with_bank_fees_on_benefits.php

[AzDar]

1. Paying fees to the banks THEIR tax dollars are bailing-out.

:mad:


Jeebus.

[derby378]

2. This, students, is known as "kicking them when they're down"

What's so bad about good old-fashioned coin of the realm? Not every monetary transaction in America has to have MC, Visa, or Amex approval, right?

[Mika]

3. And the dental technicians are being laid off because the work is being outsourced to China.

The dental laboratory manufacturing industry is being gutted, These hard working well trained, certified, and dedicated professionals are having the rug pulled out from under them.

Insurance dentistry is pushing all of the prosthetic fabrication to China, and most of it is crap, and some of it poisoned with lead and who knows what.


What can Brown and Fedex do for you? Ship your job to China, and streamline the process.

:puke:

[TwilightGardener]

4. Why did states "strike deals" with banks? Since when do private

banks deliver the services that state employees are supposed to do--namely, issue checks or direct-deposit? Why is there a middleman? I am confused.

[TahitiNut]

5. Check out the "DirectExpress" program negotiated by the Social Security Administration.

:shrug:

[NMDemDist2]

6. true, i'm on a short furlough and collecting UI

and they sent me a BoA card. the bank lady told me that if I used an ATM there would be a fee

there is no BoA in my town so any ATM used is charged a fee. I go to my Credit Union and have them withdraw the $$$ and put it in my account, but it's a scam for sure....

[yellowdogintexas]

7. just to clarify..in Texas, you get two free withdrawals per payment period

and it only applies to cash/ATM withdrawals. So you could call, check your balance, then hop over to any bank and take a cash advance for the entire amount if you wanted to and put that money in your bank account, walk out with the cash or do whatever you needed. I did that several times. But mostly I just used it for day to day stuff, like grocery shopping, or such.

When I first got the thing I was quite annoyed with the idea. But I called to find out the best way to get money out of it in a large quantity and I was told I could do a no fee cash withdrawal up to two times per payment period (every two weeks)at any bank. So I would go to my own bank, usually once a month, and pull all but about $200 off the card and have my bank just drop it into my normal checking account. Then I could use the $200 for odd, small stuff.

If you are using it like a debit card, there are no fees. It is easy to verify the balance by phone ( I had the number stored in my cell phone) so you know what you have to work with.