Thread: Social Security prepaid debit card pushed

Social Security prepaid debit card pushed

9 comments
by Betty Beard - Sept. 4, 2008 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic
The U.S. Treasury Department is making a special push this month to let about 119,000 Arizona Social Security and Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, recipients learn about a safer way to get their payments: prepaid debit.

About 2 million recipients in Arizona and 11 other Western states will get information on the Direct Express Debit MasterCard card this month with their monthly checks.

The cards are touted as a more convenient and safer alternative to paper checks, especially for those without bank accounts.

Nationally, about 10.3 million recipients rely on paper checks and about 4 million lack bank accounts. Last year, about 700,000 paper checks were reported lost or stolen.

"In some places check-cashing places can charge $6 and some even charge up to $20," said Abbie Loftus, deputy director of the San Francisco regional financial center for the Treasury Department.

"So we wanted to find a way that they could go in and get a safer, more reliable and less expensive way to use their benefits more effectively."

About 83,000 people in other states have signed up for the cards since April. Recipients do not need a bank account or credit check to enroll.

Details: Call 877-212-9991 or visit www.usdirectexpress.com.

Link

Forget a card, have it put in your account by direct deposit.

This is one of the most insane ideas I have ever heard. People without bank accounts are usually not on the Internet and have no daily access to debit accounts. And any statement mailed from a bank usually is about 5-6 days late reporting a balance that has been decreased. Too many elderly Americans already pay their bills as soon as they come in with no questions asked and the fraud on behalf of some of the healthcare providers, among others, is incredible.
Treas. Secy. Hank Paulson should be hung up by the thumbs until I get a chance to present my case.

The only people without Bank accounts, are the illegal aliens!

Originally Posted by Equalizer

The only people without Bank accounts, are the illegal aliens!

Not sure about that one. I know people when I worked in RE that paid cash for their homes. They literally had it stashed in the beds or backyards. Didn't just banks. Wealthy people, who owned several homes and paid cash for all of them.

Wouldn't be surprised if these debit cards carry an ID chip. Where's JP?

Originally Posted by Rockfish

Wouldn't be surprised if these debit cards carry an ID chip. Where's JP?

no doubt they most likely will have something n them.

I say they can keep their money. I don't want or need the govt taking care of me. I have a God who has promised to supply all of my needs.

Now as for the person who claims that only illegals do not have accounts, that has to be one of the most ignorant statements I have heard in some time. People Living off SS certainly have no need for a bank account because they don't have any money to put in the bank even if they are able to cover their living expenses.

Lets not forget, their are a huge number of impoverished people in this country who do not have bank accounts and they pay their bills with money orders.

In addition, you have people who for religious reasons do not have a SS# and so they cannot get a bank account. The Amish and the Mennonites too.

For those using debit cards, it makes it easier for the govt to know how many cans of cat food the recipients are buying to eat dinner for the month or any other items they may need to survive, since the law now requires all transactions made by credit or debit cards be reported to the IRS.

Thanks, jp!