quote:

Originally posted by MtnPlinker:
Oh, and by talking with my daughter, I did find out that direct deposit was available when she was hired (and still is), but my daughter chose a check so she could split her pay checks and deposit only half in her checking account.

Every employer of mine has been able to do direct deposit to more than one account. You might have her ask about that.

Thanks for that - she was just looking to get some movie cash out of her paycheck when she did the deposit...Teenagers

I can get behind that philosophy - you only spend what you have in hand, and never draw down on the account. That being said she needs a new job/employer - it's sad that her boss runs roughshod over every other employee there.

I do not see why anyone would choose not to have direct deposit, if it was available.

There is only one advantage to not having direct deposit, and that is if you are a lonely senior and you just love to talk to the bank teller.

quote:

Originally posted by American Pit Bull:
I do not see why anyone would choose not to have direct deposit, if it was available.

There is only one advantage to not having direct deposit, and that is if you are a lonely senior and you just love to talk to the bank teller.

Actually, no. At my last company we were "forced" to pick some ATM BS or direct deposit. I wanted neither as I didn't trust the HR morons to get it right, and the ATM BS had all sorts of fees. I raised hell citing many laws and they ended up mailing my check to me every month. "Free" ATM use or not, I can't get my FULL paycheck out every month (ever seen an ATM spit out change?) and there were rollover charges, so it still doesn't work.

All about finding laws and sticking them to the HR people. They'll get it eventually.

I see 2 problems:

1-Your daughter did not agree to this voluntarily, which seems to be required in the second paragraph of the Statute.

2-I didn't know it was legal for an employer to give out personal information without an employee's knowlegde or consent. In fact, I would say that was probably illegal.

At this point I think I would be going to see a lawyer. But unless your daughter is a minor, they may not discuss much with you concerning her affairs.

Hmmm... assuming the debit cards as accessing a company account at a specific bank... do the employees get charged an ATM fee every time they access "their" money if they don't have their own account at that specific bank?

Sorry, but this sound like an idea that payroll & HR pulled out of their arse thinking it would be "convenient" without addressing the obvious legal & logistical problems.

quote:

Originally posted by MtnPlinker:
Anyone know a good lawyer? (in case this is against the law!).

Wow!

I'd definately check with your state Attorney General. It doesn't seem like parts of that are legal, but I'm not an attorney. I know a lot of employers are requiring direct deposit, but that doesn't have all these stipulations attached. It's also into your own account. She has that option, so that's what I'd do if she did want to stay there. I love direct deposit. I only go to an ATM at the bank once a month to get my spending money for the month.

This debit card paycheck is crazy, though.

quote:

Originally posted by ABearden:
Actually, no. At my last company we were "forced" to pick some ATM BS or direct deposit. I wanted neither as I didn't trust the HR morons to get it right, and the ATM BS had all sorts of fees.

Payroll can screw up paper checks just as easily as direct deposit, but paper checks have even more of a chance of problems since they can be lost.

People complain about ATM fees, yet they opt to receive paper checks which require a trip to the bank to deposit. That is an extra cost that you incur just so you can see the check in your hand.

quote:

Originally posted by Super38:
2-I didn't know it was legal for an employer to give out personal information without an employee's knowlegde or consent. In fact, I would say that was probably illegal.

They didn't give information to a third party... They outsourced their payroll. This is extremely common and most large companies do this.

They did outsource a part of their payroll - agreed, but I dunno about the 3rd party thing. This is what Money Network says in their own Privacy Statement which controls what they can do with my daughters non-public identity information:

++++++++++++++++++++

INFORMATION WE SHARE WITH SERVICE PROVIDERS OR JOINT MARKETERS
We may disclose all of the information we collect, as described above, to companies (including affiliates) that perform services on our behalf, including those who assist us in preparing and mailing statements (if applicable) and responding to customer inquiries. We may provide that information, except for information from consumer reporting agencies, to others who perform marketing services for us and to financial institutions that are not our affiliates with whom we jointly offer financial products or services. You do not have the right to opt out of the disclosure of this information.

INFORMATION WE SHARE WITH AFFILIATES
Our respective affiliates include nonfinancial companies, and may include financial service providers, such as insurance companies. In addition to the information we share with affiliates that provide services to us, we may share information described above among our respective affiliates in order to provide you with information about additional products and services. You have the choice to opt out from our sharing of information with affiliates although, even if you opt out, we may still disclose your information as permitted by lay (sic).

INFORMATION WE SHARE WITH NONAFFILIATED THIRD PARTIES
We may disclose information to third parties who do not belong to our corporate family. These nonaffiliated third parties may include financial services providers, such as mortgage an insurance companies; nonfinancial companies, such as direct marketers, retailers and publishers; and others, such as nonprofit organizations.

You have the choice to opt out from our sharing of information with these types of third parties although we may still disclose your information as permitted by law. In addition, we generally will not disclose information to nonaffiliated third parties as long as your billing address is in California or Vermont except as permitted by law.

YOUR RIGHT TO OPT-OUT OF DISCLOSURES TO AFFILIATES AND NON-AFFILIATES THIRD PARTIES
If you prefer that we not share nonpublic personal information about you with third parties, you may opt-out of those disclosures at any time by directing us not to make those disclosures (other than disclosures permitted or required by law). You may opt-out by calling Company’s Customer Service at (888)-913-0900 or by writing to us at MetaBank Customer Service, 7000 Goodlett Farms Parkway 2nd Floor, Cordova, Tennessee, 38016.
+++++++++++++++++++
My favorite part is in red above.


I'm penning a letter today since I found calling is pretty much a waste of time.

Thanks again to all for your feedback!

quote:

Originally posted by MtnPlinker:
Her boss said, "Just go online, agree to their terms, create a PIN, and you can get your money!

I would ask the boss if he is going to buy the computer and pay the monthly internet fees. Otherwise, I want to use direct deposit.

Ok, in the spirit of keeping all posted, here's the redacted letter sent to the Money Center today. We'll see what happens! (I really don't want to go spending money on a lawyer )
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear Madam or Sir:

I recently became aware that my daughter’s Employer, ________________, recently chose to use your services in place of issuing payroll checks. It appears that MetaBank, d/b/a Meta Payment Systems (the “Bank”) now holds assets belonging to our daughter.

For the purposes of this letter, the definitions (and only the definitions) provided in the preamble of the “Terms and Conditions of Your Money Network Service” (the Agreement) are incorporated herein. So-defined terms will be underlined in this letter for your reference.

The following items are statements of fact:

i. My daughter, __________(the Payee), is a minor residing at _____________________, and

ii. I, _______________, am a parent and legal guardian for the Payee,

iii. Non-public, personal information for the Payee was provided to the Bank without her knowledge or consent.

iv. The Employer discharged their payroll liabilities through the use of the Bank without the knowledge and consent of the Payee.

v. Paragraph 4 of the Agreement references a Service Fee Schedule provided on the Card Carrier. Said Service Fee Schedule was not provided in the Card Carrier received.

vi. The Payee has reviewed the Agreement and does not wish to enter into such agreement with the Bank. The Payee does not agree to the terms of the Agreement.

vii. For this reason, the Payee has declined to activate the Card.

viii. The Payee has terminated employment with the Employer. The last payroll pay date will be for the Payee will be _______________.
It is understood that the temporary retention of the Card and associated Card Carrier does not constitute acceptance of the Agreement in any way and said Card and Card Carrier will be returned upon request, pending advice from counsel.

Withstanding these facts, the Payee requests the following actions be taken by the Bank forthwith:

1. Immediately cease and desist from selling, renting, or otherwise disseminating the non-public, personal information obtained by the Bank concerning the Payee, excepting such disclosures required by a court order or by law. This includes, but is not limited to any disclosures described in the Agreement under Paragraph 24 entitled “Privacy: Confidentiality: Data Security.”

2. Distribute any monies held by the Bank in the form of a check to the Payee not prior to the last payroll pay date of _______, 2008, but no later than Friday, September 12th, 2008.

3. The amount distributed to the Payee in a check shall represent the exact sum of all amounts received by the Bank on behalf of the Payee and shall not be reduced by any service fees, penalties or other charges.

The Card and Card Carrier will be returned to the Bank upon receipt of this check.

Should you have any questions, concerns, or are unable to specifically comply with the terms of this letter, please contact the undersigned.

Sincerely,

Enclosure: Page 1 of the Agreement included with the Card Carrier.

If your daughter is a minor, she CAN'T legally agree to this BS (contracts with minors are unenforceable) , so the company her employers have outsourced payroll to have to deal with you.

But legally an employer cannot charge an employee to receive their pay.

I would have added the point that you send an identical letter to your lawyer. That usually saves a lot of headache.

Seriously.

Did your daughter quit her job over this?

I would not deal with the outsourced payroll company, you will likely get nowhere. Instead get HR/payroll to cut a paper check. If you can see them with your eyes you can get a lot further.

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:
Did your daughter quit her job over this?

Nope. It just so happens they switched during the last two payroll periods before she left. Unfortunately, her boss is quitting the same time, so there's a new manager in charge of payroll that's pretty clueless, and now my daughter no longer works there.

I can't even begin to think of how difficult it might be for the employer to get their payroll money back from the "Money Network" - I'm guessing the system's not really set up for that direction of money flow.

quote:

Originally posted by ABearden:

quote:

Originally posted by American Pit Bull:
I do not see why anyone would choose not to have direct deposit, if it was available.

There is only one advantage to not having direct deposit, and that is if you are a lonely senior and you just love to talk to the bank teller.

Actually, no. At my last company we were "forced" to pick some ATM BS or direct deposit. I wanted neither as I didn't trust the HR morons to get it right, and the ATM BS had all sorts of fees. I raised hell citing many laws and they ended up mailing my check to me every month. "Free" ATM use or not, I can't get my FULL paycheck out every month (ever seen an ATM spit out change?) and there were rollover charges, so it still doesn't work.

All about finding laws and sticking them to the HR people. They'll get it eventually.

When my then employer [a city] first offered direct deposit in the early 1980s, I jumped on it. No more going to the bank and standing around as others were closing escrow in the express line.

Within four weeks, I began getting calls from creditors saying that my checks were bouncing. WHAT???

After calling the bank and then going down and seeing a bank officer to review my accounts, I learned that I dodn't overspend, the bank didn't screw up, and I hadn't been ripped off - my employer's IT people had so screwed the payroll deposit account that the bank had thought someone was tampering with their computer and they locked them out. Of course, the city didn't bother to tell me anything until I handn't been paid in over six weeks.

My employer screwed over my credit [no way to check your report in those days] and the general apology they wrote had little effect with anyone that I could not sit down and discuss it with.

Direct deposit wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The Internet makes it much easier to track money now.

the last Co. I worked for tried to cram direct deposit down every employees throat at least once every month. I have never had it and will never have it if I have aqny say so at all about it. As American Pit Bull said "I do not see why anyone would choose not to have direct deposit it it was available", here's my answer Cos. lie all the time and they could simply tell you the deposit was made and it really isn't. Example: I worked for a Co. several years ago and was paying for group health coverage and after I quit I came to find out that none ofthe employees had the coverage and we had been paying into it for six months. I had to threaten to take them to the labor board to get my money back.