Bank of America issuing state tax refunds as fee-heavy debit card

RIP-OFF ALERT: Bank of America is in cahoots with the state of Georgia as part of a misguided effort to issue random taxpayers their refunds on fee-laden debit cards. Worse yet, there’s apparently no warning or chance for the taxpayers to opt for a traditional check or direct deposit in lieu of the debit card!

I first became aware of this from a caller to my show. Then I saw confirmation on Consumerist.com, where a reader wrote in to say he didn’t know how to use the card without running info fees so he called Bank of America…and then was charged $2 to ask his question about how to avoid fees.

I hope this is not the start of a trend. Why would any state government enter into what’s at best an ill conceived idea or at worst a corrupt deal to take advantage of their taxpayers?

Need I remind you that Bank of America only still exists because of the taxpayer bailout, which we were not asked about either? And then the giant monster mega-bank thinks it’s a good idea to turn around and rip people off like this?? And Georgia wants to partner with them on top of it all?! Disgusting, inexplicable and unacceptable.

I hope if anybody has an experience like this in your state that you scream loud and long to your elected officials. Let them know their job is not to get up in the morning and figure how to rip off the citizenry by partnering with a bank to issue tax refunds on debit card.

It also goes to show that the DNA of Bank of America does not change, either pre-bailout or post-bailout. They still want to take advantage of people who in this case may not even be their own customers!