EPPICard has the fees to make up for less frequent phishing

Unemployed Americans seeking to access their state benefits have had a hard time with the EPPICard debit card system in the past. The ATM card-style distribution system was designed to make it easy for the unemployed to access their benefits money. Unfortunately, numerous media reports have indicated the program failed to go off without a hitch. Case in point: one Fayetteville Observer reader using EPPICard found that hidden fees were waiting in the wings.

Article source: EPPICard – Less phishing, more administrative fees by Personal Money Store

EPPICard is far from epic when it comes to fees

The EPPICard debit card system has had trouble with a phishing scam or two within the past, and identity theft has been a concern. Those issues were supposedly addressed by state agencies and EPPICard officials. Now welfare consumers can access their emergency money funds without worry – unless they have to use their EPPICards multiple times per month or they enter their EPPICard PINs incorrectly. One Fayetteville Observer reader reported that making more than two EPPICard cash payday withdrawals per month from his bank of choice (Wachovia) produced an “excess use” fee of $ 1.50. In reality, those are serious fees. EPPICard makes such potential fees apparent up front, but that certainly doesn’t make them right.

Squeezing the wallets of the unemployed

Larry Parker of North Carolina’s Employment Security Commission told the Observer that you will find “plenty of ways” to use EPPICard without being charged additional fees for a small cash loans. Yet that nevertheless does not address the legitimacy of the fees in the first place. Could state governments and big banks negotiated in better faith for the consumer here?

Avoiding fees and calling EPPICard simply do not mix

Consumers with question can’t escape fees if they call EPPICard via telephone, either. That’s the kind of service welfare consumers in 19 states are currently receiving, to horrible reviews. As many sources – Personal Money Store incorporated – have suggested, perhaps EPPICard should go back to the future with paper checks and direct deposit, instead of ATM cards that charge consumers excessively.

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Fayetteville Observer

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