Thanks for the commuter info. I just want to share that I have checked it out and I do not have any assurance that this program is not a scam.

Basically, they are selling you a prepaid debit / credit card. I have not been able to find a schedule of fees associated with the cost of maintaining the card. I have thought about this and it sounds pretty much like any other company that sells prepaid cards, they have to make their money somehow and the only way for that to happen with this program is through “cost of service” functionality. The reason I feel that this is a scam is because they are not up front about any of the costs associated with the “service” and you cannot find out until after you sign up.

This kind of service also is reminiscent of other services kind of like the free trial services that require you to set up automated payment before you can participate. I do not see any information of how to cancel or back out once you have started. No offense, but it has scam written all over it. They are tapping into a market that appeals to the common man because they dipping into pre-tax money. It is a lucrative industry, selling pre-paid debit cards and credit cards. I just don’t see how this company is making money unless there is some sort of maintenance fee associated with getting the card.

The only service they are providing me is by getting my money before it is taxed. They put it onto a prepaid card and there you go. I still have to go get my bus pass, or my bus tokens. I don’t even get them at a discounted rate. The only thing they are saving me is maybe a couple of dollars in taxes each paycheck. But how do they profit?

I’m not meaning to come across in the wrong way, I just have red flags going up in my mind and did not know anything about the process that Unisys went through to obtain WageWorks as a client to sell services to Unisys employees.

• Bank Rate’s take on pre-paid cards
  http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20020506a.asp
  
• Some advice from a financial dude about checking out companies in full before letting them sell pre-paid cards to your employees.
  http://www.fairisaac.com/NR/exeres/1CCFBE75-4A1A-4217-8E46-C8E276FDE7C5,frameless.htm

From WageWorks’ knowledge base:

• A participant who has funds loaded to both a transit and parking account is only a single service fee.
• A participant who has supplemental funds (i.e., one-time addition of funds) added to their account is only charged a single service fee. In other words, they are not charged twice -- once for the monthly load and once for the supplemental load - just once. .
• A participant who has supplemental funds, but does not have a monthly load, will be charged a service fee for that month.
  A participant who does not have any funds loaded to an account but has a transit pass sent to them will not have a service fee charged because no funds are loaded to the employee's account. Same for an employee who has a claim against a prior election.

There is a huge industry that revolves around grabbing consumer money before it hits the tax bracket. I’m not saying that these guys aren’t legit, I’m just saying that there are some unanswered questions that are not immediately available through their website and that in itself is a huge red flag for me. Even if it is a scam, nobody is going to speak up or notice anyway because they are only going to be losing dollars per month anyway which is something that your average employee will not notice and if they do, it won’t be enough for them to get their panties in a bunch like I have. It is a small amount for us, the consumer, but you put together several hundred thousand people and multiply that by several dollars a month and you have a business. It is unethical and I feel it is my responsibility as a critical thinker and an educated consumer to point these things out. Everybody else is free to vote with their dollar however they want but they should at least be informed about what they are voting for with their dollar.

After digging through their knowledgebase I finally found that these services seem to be backed by Ameriprise. Now I understand why the service is offered but I still have not been able to put at rest any of the red flags that made me concerned in the first place.

• Absolutely no transparency
• No schedule of fees available
• Have to enroll before you find out how the program works (unless you do some digging before hand)
• No obvious way to cancel the service except some mysterious references to an “Employer Contact” (that would be you right?)
• No pro-rated cancellation rates. This is not explained up front and they pocket all the money for the month that you are attempting to cancel in PLUS whatever time it takes to cancel.

Anyway, what most of this amounts to is that I have plenty of free time on graveyards so if I came across in the wrong tone, I apologize. ;) Just wanted to share some thoughts with you.

Thanks