Treasury Tax Refund? Try Their -Debit Card

01/18/11 (People Port) Do not have a regular bank account, The Treasury's debit card could be just for you. They are launching a pilot program. Creating low-cost, safe card for tax refunds.

Treasury launched its pilot program in September, the solicitation letters for this one go out this week.

The letters will invite these taxpayers to consider activating a MyAccountCard Visa® Prepaid Debit Card in time to have their 2010 federal tax refund direct deposited to the card. Compared to paper checks, direct deposit provides a safer, faster and more convenient way to receive a federal tax refund as well as other regular income.

Treasury began a companion pilot to encourage tens of thousands of current and potential payroll card users to direct deposit their 2010 federal tax refund onto existing payroll cards. Nationwide, more than 1.7 million workers use payroll cards to receive and access their wages. Working with ADP, a provider of payroll services, Treasury will highlight the safety, ease and convenience of direct deposit onto payroll cards through tax season communications, including materials distributed with pay statements. It will not be one size fits all.

Treasury will randomly offer several different variations of MyAccountCard in order to evaluate which product features, fee structures and marketing messages generate the greatest positive response from taxpayers. The results of the pilot will help determine the benefits and feasibility of a card account as an integrated part of the tax filing and refund process.

The firms directly involved include: Visa, Bonneville Bank, Green Dot Corporation.