Drea Knufken
Got unemployment insurance? You may want to load your monthly payments onto a Reliacard Visa, a prepaid, reloadable US Bank card through which the Department of Labor distributes insurance funds. Huliq has the details:
The Reliacard functions as a debit card and can be used anywhere that Visa is accepted. Consumers receive their funds directly to the card and avoid most of the common credit card fees. There is little risk of over-extending yourself because the funds go only so far as the money that you’ve allocated, though in some cases a charge may slip through and a $20 fee will be given. As long as customers utilize U.S. Bank ATMs there are no fees for balance inquiries or cash withdrawals; and the monthly fee of $2 only applies if the account is left inactive for more than 180 consecutive days.
Users cannot add additional funds to the account, as it is strictly for the depositing of unemployment insurance. Only the state can deposit funds to the Reliacard Visa. Also, in order to reduce fraud, U.S. Bank places daily limits on the amount of money that can be withdrawn from the card. If a consumer has to withdraw a large sum of money they will have to go straight to a bank teller.
Funds within the account do not accrue interest. Also, more than one card cannot be requested even for close family members. Still, in an unstable economy and with unemployment topping 7.2 percent in December the Reliacard Visa may be an option worth exploring.
How does the Reliacard visa beat getting unemployment funds deposited directly into your bank account? It doesn’t. But if you don’t have a bank account, and your state doesn’t offer a direct-deposit UI program, the ReliaCard system works well. Some more perks, from US Bank’s website:
* U.S. Bank provides government agencies with all of the necessary materials. Contact us today for more information.
* Cost savings – reduces disbursement expenses by replacing costly paper checks with an efficient electronic payment solution. Customers avoid the high cost of check-cashing facilities.
* Automatic approval – No customer credit approval or bank account is required.
In other words, the ReliaCard Visa targets those with horrible credit, no bank account, and who receive unemployment insurance benefits. They should have called it the HardUp Visa.
