[Dennis P]

The California EDD gave those of us collecting UI benefits advance notice that they will start issuing debit cards from Bank of America, and that these will take the place of the checks they were sending us. I received mine last Saturday, 8/20/11. I activated it online that same day and it showed my UI funds are available as of Tuesday, 8/16/11. I set up a recurring transfer of the funds from the debit card to go to my credit union checking account. According to the enclosed brochure, it takes 2 business days for the funds to transfer from the debit card to an external account. I'm assuming business days for BofA are Monday through Friday, so taking that into consideration, today (Wednesday, 8/24/11) would be the second business day. I just checked my checking account online and the funds haven't showed up yet, so I'm assuming (and hoping) that the funds will be there tomorrow. This is the only negative thing I see about this type of arrangement, and hopefully any future EDD benefit payments will just transfer directly to my checking account, like direct deposit.

Has anyone else gotten their EDD debit card yet? If so, what do you think of it? I can see how the state will save on printing and postage costs, and how the risk of the checks getting lost in the mail will be reduced.

On the California forum, there is this thread from one member expressing how he feels about the new debit card.