Debit cards soon to be available to TANF recipients

By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

August 03, 2008 09:11 pm

— TAZEWELL, Va. — Recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in Southwest Virginia will soon have the option of receiving their benefits through a debit card system.
Letters have now gone out to TANF recipients, including those living in Tazewell County, informing them of the upcoming changes being offered by the Virginia Department of Social Services. Beginning Sept. 1, the DSS will make the new electronic method available.
The new system will allow TANF payments to be automatically issued each month to a Virginia debit MasterCard account.
In Tazewell County, there are approximately 365 TANF recipients eligible for the new electronic debit card system, George Smith, a senior eligibility supervisor for the local DSS offices, said.
While the number may seem low, Smith said the new VIEW, or Virginia Initiative for Employment and not Welfare, program is helping to get many TANF recipients back in the workforce.
With the new electronic debit system, recipients would be able to retrieve their money through ATM machines, banks or by using the cash back option provided by some retailers, according to a press release from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s DSS.
Those TANF recipients who wish to continue to receive their benefits via the existing direct deposit or paper check system must contact their eligibility worker by Aug. 15. Beginning Sept. 1, all TANF payments will be automatically deposited to the debit card account system unless the TANF recipients make prior arrangements with their eligibility worker to continue the existing check or direct deposit system.
Smith said it is hard to predict how many of the local TANF recipients in Tazewell County will select the new debit card system, or stay with the existing check and direct deposit system.
“There are some who feel more secure having that check in their hand,” Smith said.
Smith said many were initially slow to use the new direct deposit system.
“Now they will get three options,” Smith said. “They can have either the check itself, direct deposit, or the debit card.”
Smith said letters have gone out to TANF recipients in Tazewell County explaining the changes.
The new debit card system provides many benefits, including making funds available on the first of each month, including weekends and holidays. The debit card system also will be accepted at thousands of locations, and can be used to make purchases or get money back at retailers.
– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com