I received in the mail yesterday a Visa debit card that arrived in a plain white envelope from an address in Omaha called Metabank. (MetaBank, the retail banking division, operates 10 retail branches in four market areas: Central Iowa; Storm Lake, Iowa; Brookings, S.D..; and Sioux Falls, S.D.. MetaBank offers traditional banking services designed to serve the needs of individual, agricultural, and business depositors and borrowers.)
Most people toss their credit card offers, but I decided to open the thin white envelope and found inside my "Economic Impact Credit" in the form of a VISA debit card. Yes, this "small" bank is the one issuing the Federal payments as a VISA debit card. Not one of my two large banks on the east coast, but some unknown! The reason soon became clear.
Some of my friends have gotten their money as a direct deposit to their bank. The IRS has my bank routing information to one of the largest banks on the east coast, but they did not use that. Others have gotten their money as a check from the U.S. Treasury. Instead, I have gotten this Visa debit card in an unobtrusive envelope with absolutely no advertising from the Treasury office that some of us will be getting our money this way. I have read that some people have tossed this envelope thinking it was a solicitation for getting a credit card!
The U.S. government has made no effort to make this clear to people. I also learned that there are numerous fees attached to the use of the card. They (Metabank) allow you to make only one withdrawal per day from an ATM before they charge you $2.00 per transaction. Because my HUGE bank is "out-of-network" my bank is charging an additional $3.50 per withdrawal and will not allow me to withdraw a large enough amount to empty the card in one day! This is money that people who cannot put food on the table could use.
Start adding this all up and you can see the bank lobby is making millions of dollars off of this VISA debit scam. Not only in fees but in the money they are holding from people who threw away their card!
In addition, my card balance is not in even dollars but ends in 50 cents. You cannot get 50 cents from an ATM. I will have to spend it somewhere and overspend to get the 50 cents. I cannot imagine how someone who has never had such a card or does not read small print will get confused and end up owing Metabank money before they can figure out how to cancel. I will attempt to clear the balance tomorrow, and hopefully donate it all to a worthy cause(s)...although emotionally I would like to donate it to the Democratic party and buy a balloon with Trump in a diaper.
Greed is endless.
I heard something on the news about billionaires reaping additional billions during the pandemic. There is so very much that needs to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteThis about the debit card is very concerning. Greed, indeed.
Is someone getting paid off ... someone in Iowa or South Dakota?
ReplyDeleteGood grief is all I can manage at this one!
ReplyDeleteI did hear about this on the news or in an article somewhere. I received mine in my checking account with no problems. But this just makes NO SENSE. Our country has become unrecognizable. :-(
ReplyDeleteIf you aren't going to spend it on food, yes donate it to the DEMS.
ReplyDeleteOur govt monies came as check. G and I truly enjoyed this entry. Send a copy to your elected officials.
We received our direct deposit. I confess I have not paid much attention to the news about these "stimulus" payments, but I did hear something about people not knowing what they were getting and throwing them away. Now, with you explanation, I get it, and IT is a travesty! Someone is reaping the benefits of this and it is not the people who need it.
ReplyDeleteThis is how we received ours, too, and it burns my bagels. From what i gather, we are to keep this card even after it is empty because, if there is a future "economic impact" payment, those of us who got these will simply have the money credited to our same card. Please note i could be wrong about that, but it is what i thought i understood.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess! The whole country seems to be in a mess. When they drained the swamp, they backfilled with sewage.
ReplyDeleteWow. Amazing. We got ours direct deposit almost right away. My brother got his as a check. I wonder what determined who got it this way.
ReplyDeleteSorry y'all have been subjected that trouble.
ReplyDeleteFact is...Democrats-in-power know about the debit card.
I believe the majority of Democrats-in-power value complaining about President Trump above the health and welfare of Americans.
My guess is as soon as Democrats-in-power can blame the stimulus card fiasco on Trump, then they will make their voices heard.
Democrats not in power are the ones suffering along with Republicans and the rest of Americans in need.
Don't vote party lines...Vote for Integreity and Experience.
That is crazy. But I knew about it from watching Fox news. We got a check, not the card. Six years ago one of our kids were paid that way for her summer job at mcdonald's. We felt it was unfair; but we found out that our bank would deposit the money into her checking account for free in one lump sum for each payday. They should be out-lawed...this form of payment. Andrea
ReplyDeleteI hope Andrea is right that you can just deposit the money into your checking account. How close is your bank? If it isn't close can you phone them? Also, is there a charge if you spend the money at stores? I've never used an ATM because we have such easy access to our bank. Plus we use our credit cards. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThat's a mess. My money suddenly appeared in my bank account one day. Very east. Carol had to have a check mailed to her. It took a long time.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
That was supposed to say "very easy," not very east. I have no idea what east has to do with anything.
DeleteLove again,
Janie
It all sounds very confusing. It is strange that some people get it directly into their bank and others get a check and then others on a card. Wonder why not a uniform way throughout the country. We got ours banked into our account.
ReplyDeleteIt really is irritating as heck. I heard about people not trusting that VISA card too and throwing it away. People didn't trust it because it asked for a social security number in order to use it.
ReplyDelete