This payroll solution may be coming to a business near you some day soon! The other day my son told me about a friend of his. She is a few credits shy of her degree. I guess she’s had trouble getting the foreign language credit completed. She still has to pay her bills and found a job at Wendy’s near Tinley Park in Illinois. When she received her first pay check, well it wasn’t a check. She had to sign a paper in order to be hired that would allow them to pay her with an ADP total pay card. Now you’re probably wondering what in the hell that could be, as I was. It’s a credit card. The company pays her by loading up a credit card. You know a card that costs money to get cash from. It goes directly onto a Visa or MasterCard. Of course this indoctrination video programs people to see the beauty of payroll cards without the pitfalls:
It shows how you can get cash at almost any ATM machine but it fails to tell about the fees involved with such a transaction. It’s amazing how ignorant they make these people appear. It also fails to let them know all of the real life rules that come with the card.
http://www.walletpop.com/2010/12/17/the-risks-and-rewards-of-payroll-cards/
Now, after the initial confusion you might be thinking what is wrong with that? It appears that every time you want cash, it costs money. Every time you want to check and see how much you have, it costs fifty cents. The people getting these cards are obviously at the low end of the food chain. They don’t have a voice. They are the voiceless, the little guys, that most people don’t give much thought to when they’re being waited on by them. While Congress is busy protecting the rights of the “super rich” these little guys are out trying to figure out how to get their money.
Josh’s friend can’t get her money that is supposedly loaded on the card. When she contacts ADP they tell her that her employer hasn’t activated her card yet. Essentially they haven’t “enrolled” her yet. If she had been on the card, she would be charged by the minute to talk to them. Keep in mind that she has been working for them for a few weeks now. She started on November 14th and hasn’t received any money yet from her employer. Would any of us want to work for nothing for weeks on end without getting our pay? Probably not! Wendy’s corporate says it saves them money. I suppose it would with no paper trail and no one to come to the rescue of the little guy and make sure these people are paid on time and get what is their just due. Now you might think, well she signed the paper. Most of us will sign whatever the employer wants when we are trying to get a job. That is something I am sure the corporations rely on. Times are tough for jobs. If you want to work, just be aware this may be coming to a company where you are looking for a job.
This is from the ADP website:
ADP TotalPay Card is a convenient paperless payroll solution that allows employees, with a bank account or without, to have their funds electronically loaded onto their own Visa®-branded debit card.
- Increase security and reduce exposure to check loss and fraud – By eliminating paper checks and the associated distribution process, security risks are significantly reduced and concerns over traditional paper checks, that can be lost, stolen or altered are diminished.
- Save time and cost, and enjoy more convenience – There is no escheatment required by the employer. As your single-source vendor, ADP acts as a one-stop service for reversals, deletions and returns, eliminating the need for multiple-source coordination and reducing administrative tasks.
- Increase employee satisfaction and improve productivity – Employees are not required to have a checking account or obtain a credit approval to receive an ADP TotalPay Card. This convenient paperless option gives your employees immediate access to their wages on payday.
Your employees also have the choice of having full or partial pay loaded on their card, offering more choices and flexibility. With ADP TotalPay Card, your employees can shop at retailers worldwide or online anywhere Visa debit is accepted. They also have surcharge-free access to their money at 32,000 AllpointTM ATMs nationwide.
It’s hard to understand how this got started. On the website there are links showing how the companies can get federal and state tax credits for hiring new employees. This is some kind of new game that some corporations are playing and it is not leaving the countless number of their employees happy at all. You will notice it mentions employee satisfaction which is really a myth. All you have to do is type in “ADP total pay card ripoff” in Google and you will come across pages and pages of unhappy employees. Something needs to be done to help these people collect their money and not be robbed by the corporations by being nickel and dimed to death with fees for withdrawing their own cash. Go to this link and just read some of these real life stories from people.
I downloaded the brochure targeted for businesses from ADP. I want you to notice one very important detail that the employee might not know.
http://totalpay.adpsolutions.net/docs/TotalPayBrochure.pdf
It appears that the company will receive automatic refunds for “uncashed” items older than 180 days. That to me is unbelievable. No wonder these corporations like this method of payment! The money goes back to the employer? The employee doesn’t just get a check sent to them in the mail? Are you kidding me? So if you lose the card or you die or something happens that you some how forget to get all of your cash out, then the money goes back to your employer. I’m sure that’s where the people would want their money to go.
I am outraged that something isn’t being done about this. To me it seems like another way to rip off the little guy. I’m going to contact my representative and senators. I called Senator Levin but his box is full. Since it is so close to the holidays, the politicians are all getting ready to go home, so it may not be useful to contact them until after the holidays. However, I think all of us should do everything we can to help make this new method of payment more equitable for the employee. I am putting links here for anyone so inclined to contact their representative or senators. You may also inquire into your own state legislatures to see if this is happening in your state. It appears to be global. In my research I see this has been going on in Europe for quite some time.
You can contact your federal political representatives here to let them know that some people are having trouble accessing their money through this payment method:
Happy holidays everyone but don’t forget about the little guys that might be serving you at Wendy’s or Applebee’s or some place else that have no real representation.
ADP is Automatic Data Processing, Inc. If you watch this video you will think they are the best place to work.
Maybe they are, but what ADP is doing for other corporations though these payroll credit cards troubles me to say the least.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr_WKaUHyZs
ADP Total Pay Card…..Something Important for All of Us to Know…
This payroll solution may be coming to a business near you some day soon! The other day my son told me about of friend of his. She is a few credits shy of her degree. I guess she’s had trouble getting the foreign language credit completed. She still ha…
Check the FB page for Suze Orman. She spoke out against the Kardansian sisters high interest credit card and the sisters dropped their names from the card I think.
That is a crappy way to pay someone. It may be ok if there wasn’t fee’s involved and the fact that you have to take the cash out or lose it in 180 days. So you are in a catch 22 really.
I registered with a freelance site and they take a percentage of every job and you have to go through paypal or a few other payment sites and all charge a fee.
Anymore it is like you are charged money to recieve your pay. I’m not sure I am going to work with that freelance site. I need the money and the work, but I just have an uneasy feeling about it.
My son went to a temporary agency when he graduated from high school. It was the only way he could find a decent job around Sturgis at the time. He worked in a factory for the summer and they took a portion of his pay. Not everyone was paid the same either. That job made him want to get an education. And today all those kids graduating from college still have a tough time finding work.
[…] ksvoboda.com: This payroll solution may be coming to a business near you some day soon! The other day my […]
Well, just stop and think about THIS: — any bank note, —what we call “cash”— is the same thing as this pay-by-credits system. These bank notes are “legal tender” just because it says so. Consider, then, that these legal tenders become bankrupt, as did the Reichsmark and the Confederate Dollar. Money vouchers (coins, paper bills (there IS actually a legal definition & reason it is called a ‘bill’), and cheques) are NOT money. They’re vouchers.
Now that this e-money system is going into effect, and it WILL become the standard, you can bank on that, money per se will become full property of the corporation that issues it. The government will only back it up (full faith and credit). But you will again be working for the Company Store, and you will be working for scrip.
.. I hate this card with a passion.. usually I get payed on tuesday nights around 9:45 or so .. well often they just dont feel like paying me all the way until friday.. it makes it very difficult when you live pay check to pay check.. and then you get 1 on tuesday… then have to wait ALLL the way til next friday for the next check.. im starving.. my children are starving.. ive got a horrible toothe ache and need a toothe pulled… they dont give a shit.. I hate god and I hate them ….
Joni, thanks for stopping by. I wrote this post because I think more people need to realize how tough it is out there. It isn’t right and you should get your pay on a regular basis. I’m sorry you’re having so much difficulty. I hope you can get that tooth looked at. Katie
no offense… but my experiences with the total pay card are completely opposite everything in your article. you say that you have to pay to get your money from it, this is completely absurd. YES there are charges if you use the card at certain atm’s, however the network they use has thousands of free atm’s all over the country… more than any bank and you can use them for FREE. Second, your givin the opportunity to transfer any or all of the funds to another bank account at any time, for FREE. Third, money is transferred from your employer instantly to your card,you dont have to wait days like some people have mentioned because they are able to avoid bank processing delays. IF your direct deposit is taking days, its your employers fault, not ADP’s… In fact anytime i have a deposit or even when ive returned items ive purchased with the card, the funds have been put back on my account within 24 hours which can be days faster than any bank…
Are there some cases where you can be charged?… yes of course. however just like anything else if you read what you are signing up for, then you should know how these charges can happen and expect them. I personally have used the adp for more than a year and never been charged a single time for any service, including calling in to inquire about funds and such. BTW, it is illegal for any employer to force you to sign up for this card, if they fail to explain it and you sign up anyway, than that is the fault of the employer… not the card. they are required by law to give you a live check if you desire it.
It seems to me that all the people i see online bashing this card did not do their research, got charged and now complain about it. I personally love this card and use it as a separate spending account, so all of my $ for bills get deposited into my primary checking account, and the rest gets put on the adp card for personal spending.
sorry to those having such a terrible experience but i love this card, and ill continue to stick by it.
-LB
Although I would prefer not to be paid this way (I prefer direct deposit)I disagree with much of the author’s statements. For example, if the card funds are not accessed within 180 days the funds are returned to the employers. The rules are the same as if you were paid by check. Have you ever noticed on your paycheck where it says “this check is valid for 180 days”? 6 months is the “fresh” date of most payroll checks.
A little more fact checking is needed here. When you get paid is governed by law, so I think Joni has some basis for legal action. Employers must pay you on schedule and the law of constructive receipt means that those funds must be available to you on that date as well.
My company, Spencer’s, essentially forced me to use the ADP pay card. I didn’t have a choice to tell them I want checks! Now that is some major B.S. right there, because I didn’t want to agree to the terms of the card. But I want to get paid, so I signed anyway. Why the heck would I want a card that charges me a monthly maintenance fee for my own money that I earned at minimum wage.
I don’t care if the card itself is fair if you sign the contract. If you are forced to sign a contract to get paid, that’s not fair.
WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE TO ASK TO BE PAID TWICE!!!!!!!!
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