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Electronic Transfer Accounts (ETAs) could be the
solution to your problem. If you receive any
money from the federal goverment, whether it is
a paycheck, Social Security or any other federal
benefits or retirement, then you are eligible for
an ETA.
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Visit
ETA-Find.gov
(provided by the U.S. Treasury)
to find a bank or credit union near you
that offers the ETA account.
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An ETA is a low cost account (capped at $3 per month, or
less) and works about the same as an ATM-only account
with the bank.
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Your government funds are
deposited by direct deposit.
Some banks will allow you to deposit
your own funds also, but others will allow
only the government funds as deposits.
(Let us know which do not allow you to deposit
your own funds so we can provide a list them
here on this page.)
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You can withdraw funds using the ATM card which
comes with your ETA account and you are allowed
four free withdrawals per month and
four free balance inquiries also!
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The ETA card can be used as an ATM/debit card
for making purchases at merchants using an
on-line point-of-sale (POS) network. (includes
most grocery stores, service stations, and
the bigger retailers such as Wal-Mart.)
One nice benefit of this is that at most of
these retail locations (and at all U.S. Post
Offices), you may withdraw an amount higher than
your purchase and receive cash back when
using an ETA.
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There is no minimum balance for ETAs.
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The bank may allow you to utilize third
party bill-pay services against the account,
such as
PayMyBills.com. The money is
transferred using ACH debits which
you authorize.
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The bank receives a small subsidy from
the government for each ETA it opens.
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The bank cannot refuse an applicant
based on any information from a credit report
or from ChexSystems (except specifically for
fraud on an ETA that was reported to ChexSystems.)
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Here is the murky part:
Millions of people get disability or retirement
benefits, so the banks probably won't be verifying
that each applicant actually receives federal
funds. This opens a hole that perhaps everyone
can take advantage of. In a way, there might be
no deception ..., eventually EVERYONE qualifies
for federal benefits. Is there harm in opening
the account a bit early?
Also, some banks only allow direct deposit into
ETAs, while others will allow manual deposits
and withdrawals. So make sure this will still
work for you before applying.
Please let us know how well this technique works
for you. Post your experience on the
ChexVictims.com website and we will
respond there.
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