kiva Donating Member (749 posts) Sat Mar-14-09 11:22 AM
Original message
Another twist for the unemployed: Debit card fees
If you're out of work like Steve Lippe, who was laid off from his job as a salesman in January, you know you already have problems. But looking at the fine print that came with his new unemployment debit card, he became livid.
"A $1.50 here, a $1.50 there," he said. "Forty cents for a balance inquiry. Fifty cents to have your card denied. Thirty-five cents to have your account accessed by telephone."
He was quoting fees listed in a brochure that goes out to every unemployed person in Pennsylvania who chooses to receive benefits via debit card. He was given the option when he filed for jobless payments: Wait 10 days for a check or get the card immediately. Like most of the 925,000 state residents who received unemployment benefits in February in Pennsylvania, he chose the debit card and only then, he says, did he learn about the fees.
--snip--
The National Consumer Law Center says fees range from 40 cents to a high of $3 per transaction, if the debit card is used at an out-of-network ATM. Most banks give jobless debit card users one free withdrawal per deposit period, which averages every other week in most states. But consumer advocates, including the Law Center, say the unemployed "should be able to obtain cash and perform basic functions with no fees."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/13/unemployment.fees/inde...
So states encourage people who are unemployed to choose the debit card then saddle them with fees. :grr:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5253453
Heaven forbid that people are charged a fee for using a service provided by a private company.
The other question is - how is the bank aware of a clients present employment status ?
Ocracoker16 Donating Member (371 posts) Sat Mar-14-09 11:39 AM
Response to Original message
3. It is outrageous
I recall reading about this several weeks ago here on DU. The banks are extremely greedy to be making people pay all sorts of fees for using the debit cards issued to the unemployed. It is just disgusting.
Oh boo hoo cry me a river.
liberal N proud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-14-09 11:43 AM
Response to Original message
4. Who's insane idea was it to give them DEBIT cards?
If they wanted to use plastic, the could issue pre-paid credit or cash cards.
I don't get it. Why is there a problem with electronically depositing the money directly into a bank account that has a card attached (which seems to be exactly what they're doing now)?
Gormy Cuss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-14-09 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #7
16. Government-issued debit cards without fees are a great idea.
Bank issued ones with ANY fees are not.
The government provides banking services now* ?
*Other than the service of siphoning off large chunks at that special time of the year ?
tonysam (138 posts) Sat Mar-14-09 11:47 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. True. It Depends on the ATM.
Furthermore, these ATM's usually dispense cash only in $20s, so if I want $10, I can't use it.
I get the feeling that this DUmmie is routinely taking out less than $20 in a single transaction.
jaxx Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-14-09 11:47 AM
Response to Original message
9. I just sent the link to a friend who get the debit card.
Screwing the public....it never ends.
If you don't want to get "screwed" by the service fees, don 't use the service. It really is that simple.
OmmmSweetOmmm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-14-09 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
11. Another example of govt. being in cahoots with the banksters.
Webster Green Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-14-09 12:02 PM
Response to Original message
12. That is ****ing sick!
Can they just get out all the cash at once? Would they get charged a fee for that? :wtf:
Odin2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-14-09 12:06 PM
Response to Original message
14. This is collusion in it's sickest form.
My God, it reads like the corruption and kickbacks of a 3rd World banana republic in Africa or Latin America.
This subject seems to have hit a raw nerve.
smokey nj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-14-09 01:08 PM
Response to Reply #21
28. Please don't try to justify this. This is yet another case of government subisidizing banks at
the tax-payers expense. States contract with a bank to administer this unemployment debit card program and then allow the bank to charge users of the program extraordinary fees (forty cents for a balance inquiry?) to use the program. And users aren't notified of the fees until AFTER they've made the choice. What we're talking about here is government sponsored highway robbery and you seem to be blaming the victims.
If you don't know by this day and age that banks charge a fee for the services they provide then you really are stupid.
