Debit cards for the unemployed
Lose your job in Illinois and you gain a debit card. Beginning Aug. 1, the state began issuing Visa debit cards to people who qualify for unemployment insurance payments.
The check is no longer in the mail, but electronically deposited directly into your debit card account.
Folks who don’t want the card can opt for direct deposit in their checking or savings accounts.
While the program is currently aimed at the newly unemployed, by Nov. 1 of this year Illinois plans to eliminate checks completely as it transitions to a paperless system.
I was tipped to this story by a former colleague who is now unemployed.
Once he wrote the news, now he’s a news source.
Odd how things work out.
But my source, we’ll call him George, still knows a good story when he sees one.
“You don’t have to go down to the unemployment office any more, either” he said.
“I found out you can file for unemployment on your computer.”
No more standing in line for hours only to be told by some sour-faced bureaucrat that you’ve been standing in the wrong line.
Read the rest of Phil Kadner’s column here. Please do – he’s my colleague now.
I’m reporting again for a paycheck — not the kind issued by IDES. Check out my stuff or set a Google Alert for “By Lauren FitzPatrick.” Please. More to come — I’m trying to wrap up day 1 before 9 p.m. That doesn’t mean the end of Termination Date, though. I know I’m one of the lucky ones, and who knows how long this streak will even last?
