As credit card issuers have been subjected to increasing
restrictions on the interest and fees they can charge consumers,
they have found a new and lucrative sector in which to market their
debit cards: payroll. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
("FDIC") has estimated that employers will disperse $60
billion in wages via payroll debit cards in 2014. The lack of
federal regulation and permissive state laws have encouraged
employers to pay wages by issuing debit cards as a less expensive
alternative to issuing paper pay checks.
Payroll cards are usually provided at no charge by the credit
card issuers, but carry hefty fees for nearly everything employees
do with them. Fees are routinely charged for ATM withdrawals,
in-store purchases, exceeding a certain number of transactions,
overdrafts, receiving funds by check, and inactivity. These fees
can far exceed the cost of maintaining a checking account at a
bank. For those employees who have checking accounts, being
