Bank of America Unemployment debit card?

[Alameda]

I was laid off in June, and am eligible for Unemployment Insurance. The last time I got UI was in 2009 when my company went under due to "the crisis". At the end of my term of eligibility, the last month EDD switched to Bank of America debit card. I only had a couple of weeks of that. There was some money left in the account that I never took out. Not a lot, something like $8.
Now, being again eligible for UI, I applied and this time encountered different and amazingly Byzantine process.
After hours of filling out online forms, being kicked off the site for who knows what, I finally sent it off. Had to wait 5 business days for my confirmation number code that I could then put in...more Byzantine process. Got an email saying I had been paid....what...I didn't see it? went online to go through a maze of processes and links...Found the money was deposited in a Bank of America Visa Debit card....but I don't have it.
Got an email from BOA saying click here to get to my card....clicked and went to a place that asked me for my card #....I don't have the $#%@^ card....!!!
Called UI and got a robot...after jumping through the press here's I finally got a human...(maybe not) He said I was rude because I asked a question....??? and he refused to talk with me. I got hold of someone else, to be told to call BOA. Called BOA...more robots, finally got a human who said they would issue a new card and put the funds on it, but I have to wait until 8/1/17.
I know about "bank float"...what is going on? I now have to borrow money to cover my expenses..grrrrr
Just venting...

[Shell_Seas]

1. What state do you live in?

[bluecollar2]

2. profile says California...bay area...n/t

[silverweb]

3. I got my card in the mail.

Hadn't been on unemployment since 1978 in a different state, so the process here in California was entirely foreign to me. It took a while, but I did get a debit card in the mail. I started work again in April and still have $4.00 on the card that I keep forgetting to use.

Keep after them about why your debit card hasn't been mailed to you. There's a foul-up somewhere.

[Alameda]

5. In my lifetime...I've been on it

Three times in 47 years, this is the 4th time. Each time is different. This is the most convoluted and Byzantine....
I am very computer literate, and it was unbelievable. It's like it was designed to not work, like they don't want you to get it. I shudder to think of how things are working for some others.

[silverweb]

7. It really needs an overhaul.

I was thinking the same thing as you when I was trying to get through the maze initially: What about people who (1) aren't computer literate and (2) have no computer access or the vaguest idea how to use one (and there are more than you'd think).

It also irks me no end that they use BoA debit cards. BoA makes a killing on those just like they do with "gift cards" - and of all the criminal enterprise banks to partner with..!!!

[haele]

4. Rip-off. I had one when I was unemployed for a month and a half.

Yes, I got it in the mail a week and a half after my first EDD payment was supposed to be made - so I didn't even see any unemployment until the first month was over - and I had already completed a second interview for my soon to be new employer.
And I live in a major city, so it's not like they had to send it through a couple different county and rural post offices to get to me. Lucky thing I had half a month saved up and my 401K to dip into when that dried up.

Supposedly saves the state money, but it's only good for up to three months after you get off unemployment, and you can only use it at BoA ATMs to withdraw cash.

Which means, if while unemployed, you used it other than to draw out cash (i.e., get gas), you will inevitably end up with a miniscule amount left on the card at the end of the three months - because, why use another debit card along with your normal bank card if you only have $1.20 or so left on it. You end up putting it in the back of the wallet, like you did with all those gift VISA cards with $0.35 left on it, and BoA ends up with your $1.20, plus whatever fees they sucked from the state to
That's not even a large Iced Tea at McD's...

Haele

[Alameda]

9. Congratulations

on your new job....it sucks....and seems like something illegal, or at least should be illegal. Certainly morally wrong.

There was about $8 left in mine. Imagine how many of those left over dollars BOA is getting.....

[MurrayDelph]

6. When I got laid off seven years ago

I also got my Unemployment payments sent to a BofA debit card.

Every week (or was it every other?) I would verify the payment had been made, and promptly went down to my bank and transferred the money out to minimize Bank of America's float.

[Alameda]

8. I have a Latin name

...and I have often gotten calls from Spanish speaking call centers, assumed to not understand English very well, and generally be uneducated. I wonder if that has anything to do with the long lag in getting my card. Maybe they think I won't know how to ask questions about it. I mean really....Just a thought...

It seems like a program designed to make people give up. BOA already has my money....and is floating it. Now I'm late paying bills.....damn....and after the Financial Crisis of 2008, how could they give the concession to them?