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Oklahoma Begins Debit Card Program for State Tax Refunds

New this income tax filing season, the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) will issue MasterCard debit cards instead of paper checks to Oklahoma taxpayers who do not choose direct deposit for their state income tax refunds.

Sounds fine, right?  Wrong.  From the Oklahoma Tax Commission, "There are some fees associated with use of the debit card." WHAT?!? The OTC is forcing you to take a debit card if you do not use direct deposit and then charging you fees to use your own money!  

Some of the fees associated with the MasterCard:

• Transfer of your refund to your checking or savings account (fee = $.75)
• Inactivity fee if the card is not used for 60 days (fee = $1.50 per month)
• Service charge will apply for cards used at any ATM that is not a MoneyPass ATM located in Oklahoma and surcharges are determined by individual ATM machine companies
• Checking the blance of your card per phone: the first two are free and subsequent phone inquiries are $.35 per call
• Mobile balance alerts: the first alert is free and subsequent alerts are $.10 each
• Foreign currency conversion fee is 2%
• Paying bills online with the card will be subject to a $.25 per transaction
• If your card is lost or stolen, the first replacement is free, but subsequent requests will be $4.00 per card
• If you do not use the entirity of your refund on the card within 3 years, your card will deactivate leaving you without access to your refund.

Additionally, if your filing status is Married Filing Joint, there will be TWO debit cards sent to you in the mail, with the FULL amount of the refund preloaded on EACH card.  This doesn't mean that you both get use the full refund amount as would seem the case, it results in an occurance of whomever uses the card first wins, and has the ability to drain the entire refund from both cards with using only the one.  Leaving the other spouse with nothing.  

Many people that enjoy receiving a check in the mail or that don't have a checking account are now faced with an uncomfortable decision thanks to the OTC's actions.  Do Direct Deposit or have your refund get eaten up with fees.