Debit cards were touted as a better alternative than checks for unemployed Californians. But a FOX 11 investigation reveals it's a program rife with fraud, complaints and worst of all, leaving people without their money.
"I got to the bank and they're, ‘Yeah, this happens all the time,’" he said. "I'm like, ‘Wow, if this happens all the time they should change it, make it better.’"
In recent weeks, beneficiaries have complained that their funds have been frozen for a year or that they had thousands transferred out of their account. Bank of America says it froze accounts due to widespread fraud, but in a letter to California lawmakers, the finance giant admitted at one point as many as 488,000 accounts in California were frozen.
"We need more clarity about what banks can and cannot do in terms of freezing your money if there's a problem," says Lauren Saunders, the associate director of the National Consumer Law Center in Washington, D.C. Bank of America would issue the cards at no cost to the state and in exchange, California would get a share of the profits. Most of the fees come from merchants, who pay up anytime a customer uses the card, but Bank of America would also collect interest on the funds in people's accounts.
No one from the EDD agreed to go on camera, and when we asked for specifics on how the profit share is calculated, the EDD press office said they needed to check with their attorneys, then didn't get back to us. if there is a way of reducing those fees."
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