If you're in California, you may have received a “California Middle Class Tax Refund” gift card, in the form of a VISA debit card. This is a “stimulus program” payment.
The debit card comes with fees. Lots of fees. About 3%, plus a $7 charge. Plus, by activating the card, you authorize My Banking Direct, a service of New York Community Bank, to use your financial info for marketing purposes.
But there's a way out. Hidden down in the fine print, in what looks like 8 point type, is “If you do not agree to all the Cardholder Agreement terms, you should cancel the card by calling customer service and request the funds be issued to you in the form of a paper check”.
Now it gets interesting. There's a number to call, 1-800-240-0223. It leads to a phone message system, of course. First, there's press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish. Then a long spiel about the cards and payments, which you can't skip. Then you get a list of options, 1 through 8.
None of those options is customer service. Some try to trick you into activating the card, by typing in the number and your Social Security number, before they will tell you anything.
So how do you get a check? That's the trick. And here's the answer, from KCRA-TV.[1] “If you received a card, you can call 800-542-9332 and select option 9 to speak to an agent.” This seems to lead to the same phone menu as the number on the notice. No Option 9 is listed. But if you press 9, you get sent to customer service.
Now, that's not the end. Now you get to talk to a voice recognition system, which asks what you want. It rejects “send check” and “cancel card”. After two tries, it hangs up on you, and you have to start over.
But it does, it turns out, recognize “customer service”. Which, finally, gets you to the hold queue for a human. The first human said her computer was down and she couldn't issue a check. On the next try, the human hung up when I asked for the company's business name and address. On the third try, the human actually did the transaction, or at least pretended to. I asked for a transaction ID, which was not offered, and was grudgingly given one. In 10 days to 2 weeks, I am supposed to get a check.
Now that's a dark pattern.
New York Community Bank has a rating of one star with the Better Business Bureau. They probably make at least $150 million off the fees from California alone.
[1] https://www.kcra.com/article/california-middle-class-tax-refund-debit-card-explainer/41860421
