Posted on 03/10/2011 6:23:31 PM PST by fuzzybutt
Just wanted to warn everyone that there is a MAJOR scam is being perpetrated against employees nation wide. It is scam totally designed to loot the paychecks of employees. Let me explain why. My wife works for a large corporation that as of this week stopped handing out paychecks. Now you get your pay on a "Money Network" Visa card. Now on the surface this sounds great but like most things sold as a lie it has a dark underbelly.
There are hidden charges for everything and everything about the program is designed to make it near impossible to actually use or access your money. You are even charged if you call for tech support! You can only remove cash without fees from "authorized ATM's" and you guessed it, there are only 16 in the entire county and it is 3 miles to the nearest one. It is virtually impossible to get your pay and I know there used to be laws against such things but not any more I guess.
Do a Google search on "Money Network" and there are endless stories, postings & complaints about this underhanded & immoral flimflam. The only positive things you will find are the ones posted by the company and like everything from Democrats it is all lies. Need to move cash to your personal bank account? They hold the funds for almost a week. Need money from an ATM, get a paper statement or even if you check your account balance they charge you.
Now for the real kicker, even though this is a Visa debit card; VIRTUALLY NO STORES WILL TAKE IT AS SUCH. Thats right stores actually refuse to accept the card as legal tender. They must know something the rest of us do not know.
Are the ATMs attached to a bank? Can you get an account at that bank and transfer the money in, then transfer it to your own bank?
I’d start with the company. They should fix any problems. If they don’t care then it would probably be best to move on.
In my experience, when companies start screwing with their payroll, they usually shut the doors before too long. Your wife might want to seek other employment.
Wow that was quick. I googled “money network scam”. This posting on free republic came up already.
Perhaps so but it could have been far, far worse, I could have become a attorney.
I have made changes to webpages and the google bots have picked them up in less than a min.
They really have refined those things quite a bit.
Sure, so would I. I just meant that I wouldn't hold back from dealing with the issue, because if it doesn't get fixed, there's no point in working there anyway.
When my son was receiving unemployment benefits from New York State, I was surprised that they were issuing the benefits via Citi Bank Visa debit cards.
I don’t know what state you live in, but you might want to contact the State’s Labor Dept., and/or the State Attorney General’s Office to see if what they are doing is legal.
Complain fast. I would be antsy about an employer that puts its employees through something like this. So travel the three miles and get all your money immediately every payday.
Does your wife receive a pay stub? If not, that is illegal. Also, even if she does receive a pay stub, it is illegal to charge a fee to ascertain if the correct amount of pay is charged to her card (check her balance as soon as pay is deposited on the card).
Same for the company I work for. You have 2 choices: direct deposit or your pay on a debit card with fees to get cash from the card and fees to use the card. My company does not issue checks anymore unless there is a correction in your favor to your payment amount. The only way the debit card makes sense is if you remove the entire amount posted to it in one transaction. They are hearding people to direct deposit by making it the only reasonable method of receiving your pay.
My wife does this for her company.
They save money from bank costs, check stock and bank statements are much easier with this system.
EVERYBODY is encouraged to have a bank account for direct deposit but there are some who refuse to get an account somewhere and they leave her with zero choice but to put it on a card such as these mentioned above.
My wife explains to everyone the costs from these cards, but some people can’t or won’t get bank accounts for various reasons, most of the time it’s “Legal” reasons like child support issues and garnishments...
That is a case of, "you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back". Each making money off the other. These are the kinds of things that should open everyone's eyes.
What the people trying to evade "legal" responsibility don't know is that .gov can track them through those cards just as easily as they can through a bank account.
Holy Cow!
Anybody know a company in CA using these people? Got a right wing conservative pro-2nd Amendment CA lawyer buddy (yes, they exist) who wouldn’t mind looking into taking a crack at them or the Money Network...
I never claimed that they were smart, which is why they’re in their current situations...LOL
You're just finding out about Federal withholding, now? LOL
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