treasury issuing prepaid debit/payroll cards now

[VBRonPaulFan]

http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1021.aspx

sounds like they're trying to build up a scheme of getting as many people as possible funneling tax/income information through them so they can keep track of what you're doing.

[Kludge]

Prepaid debit cards are such a pain in the ass. It's a scheme to gain revenue from the CC companies. You can't use them in an ATM, so unless you use it at a physical store, it's often impossible to use the full amount since you can't pay from more than one source at online stores (e.g. you have a $20 card, but closest product in price you want is $18.99 -- unless you can find an item you want which costs $1.01 including shipping, you'll be out that money). CC companies then collect on the leftovers. On top of that, CC companies still earn their usual CC processing fee.

[Chester Copperpot]

yeah it sounds like a cool idea.. and no doubt it will be another back door into a national id card... "well we already have a national card to get our tax refund.."

fuck em

[Bern]

Prepaid debit cards are such a pain in the ass. It's a scheme to gain revenue from the CC companies. You can't use them in an ATM, so unless you use it at a physical store, it's often impossible to use the full amount since you can't pay from more than one source at online stores (e.g. you have a $20 card, but closest product in price you want is $18.99 -- unless you can find an item you want which costs $1.01 including shipping, you'll be out that money). CC companies then collect on the leftovers. On top of that, CC companies still earn their usual CC processing fee.

Restaurants are pretty good about splitting checks across multiple cards when there are several people paying. That's not an argument in favor of the Treasury's new scheme, just an observation.