Hidden NY payroll card fees eliminated

Lindsey Riback, The Journal News
WGRZ 9:01 AM. EST September 09, 2016

ALBANY — Protections are now in place preventing low-wage workers from losing out on their money.

New York is requiring payroll-card companies to provide employees with access to at least one local fee-less ATM near their home or work, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.

In addition, account maintenance, overdraft and inactivity fees will be removed and employers will no longer receive financial benefits for paying their workers via a payroll card, Cuomo said.

Roughly 200,000 low-wage workers in New York are paid through payroll cards, which had contained withdrawal fees or charges for viewing account balances.

In many cases, the employees do not have a bank account and are required to pay ATM fees in order to withdraw their money, in addition to the initial card fees, Cuomo said.

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