Benefit Debit Cards and Fees – Reno, NV

Welfare abuse rare in Nevada, but card users paying avoidable fees, By Frank X. Mullen Jr., March 19, 2012, Reno Gazette-Journal: “Welfare recipients in Nevada were charged more than $300,000 in avoidable automatic teller machine fees in 2011, and a small percentage of transactions took place in casinos, liquor stores and at sites in 34 other states, according to a Reno Gazette-Journal analysis of 65,500 welfare debit-card transactions. The data show about 97 percent of withdrawals occurred at ATMs or point-of-sale debit card machines in Nevada at food markets, convenience stores, malls, restaurants and banks. No evidence was found of the cards’ use in strip clubs – which has been a problem in Colorado and some other states – or in any of the Silver State’s legal brothels. Four of the 1,600 out-of-state transactions were logged in major amusement parks, including Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, and two were in baseball stadiums. In Reno, from June to December last year, about 2 percent of transactions were at ATMs in liquor stores or bars and 0.3 percent (21) of 6,650 transactions took place in Reno casinos. The RGJ’s analysis shows the debit cards are overwhelmingly being used for the purposes of basic needs, rather than luxuries or travel, state officials said…”