I am writing this so that many will not get caught up with this prepaid debit card. The bank that is the controller is NOT FDIC insured. They are a commercial bank with American Express as the major holder. This is why you can not have any government checks directly deposited to this card. You will not know this easily because it is buried in the disclosure in the FAQ provided on the website. I unfortunately did not notice this, as I am sure many others won't until it is to late! The direct deposit page makes no mention of this at all! I arrived at the funding page through the correct link and clicked on the print page. This page displays a check with the information you need to establish a direct deposit (bank routing number and account number). This was submitted to Social Security on the 20th of November. The change did not occur until 3rd January as any change in direct deposit must be made before the 15th of any given month.
To my surprise or fate the deposit has been rejected by Bluebird (American Express Centurion Bank). This now creates an extreme hardship as this money must be returned to treasury and redeposited in a bonifide fdic insured bank account.in other words your money will be unavailable to you for approximately 2 weeks. If you live on a fixed income DON'T even entertain this O cost card. Social Security will not notify you that this is NOT an acceptable deposit vechicle. Shame on American Express for hiding behind their misleading ads for nothing more then gaining market share in the prepaid debit card market. The hardships created by this "buried information" is yet to be felt!!!
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