What banks except direct express mastercard?

Answer 1

The original literature and directives published by the government (U.S. Treasury) stated that all banks displaying a MasterCard logo would accept the DirectExpress

Mastercard.

"Free access to cash at teller window" was the way it was stated. And if you contacted the enrollment centers for the card, e.g.

Comerica,

Social Security or the Federal Reserve Bank, they would have told you that all or any part of your money could be pulled off that debit card at any time for free, just by using the teller --not the ATM. However, that is not true, as reality has shown.

In early 2011, the banks, led by Wells Fargo, started to balk at the number of people who were trying to pull all of their money off that card at a bank for free at their tellers' windows. In other words, cardholders were trying to cash-out

their debit cards for free just like they had cashed their paper checks. This action caused a drain on the bank's cash inventory and long lines at their teller windows. By the end of 2011, many banks were refusing to honor the DirectExpress

debit card at their teller windows. They wanted you to use their ATMs,

and in doing so, you would likely incur a transaction fee and a limit as to the amount that could be withdrawn.

In late 2012 and early 2013, MasterCard tried to enforce the original terms by sending notice to the banks that, according to their contract with MasterCard, they were required to advance cash, for free, at the teller window. In response to this initiative, some banks simply put a limit to the amount that could be withdrawn. In early 2013, Chase banks were still incapable of honoring this "free teller withdraw" feature due to technical problems.

If you pursue this problem, you will discover that when you try to use your DirectExpress

card at a teller inside a Comerica

bank, you will simply be escorted outside and asked to use their ATM, for which you will be charged $3.50 - $4.00 per transactions, even though Comerica

is listed as a "networked ATM." Even though Comerica

is the bank behind the DirectExpress

card, they consider the DirectExpress

card as separate from their normal operation and fee structures associated with their own debit cards.

Comerica

and the government had tried to shift the burden of "access to cash" by urging cardholders to use the small convenience-store ATMs

found in many shopping centers, which they called "networked ATMs."

However, these ATMs

typically had low cash limits and were never intended to serve as cash exchanges for people trying to withdraw thousands of dollars at a time. You will also notice the government's promotion of "free cash-back"

during a retail purchase, but the limit imposed by stores in this scenariois very small. You're never going to be able to pay your rent or insurance by purchasing milk and asking for "cash back" at a retail store.

The only thing you can do is to check with several banks in your area to see if they will honor this "free access to cash at the teller" feature. Some will, but many won't. Purchasing low-cost money orders at the Post Office or Walmart is another way to drain all the cash off your debit card so you can pay your bills each month. The last time I checked, Walmart was charging 60-cents for a money order. Some banks will welcome you and allow you to withdraw all or any part of the deposit on the DirectExpress

card for free from their tellers, even if you are not a customer of that bank ... but many will just limit the withdraw amount or ask you to use their ATM outside.

You can't really blame the banks. They never signed the contract with the U.S.

Treasury.