Treasury to Deposit Some Tax Refunds on Prepaid Debit Cards

The U.S. Treasury is getting into the prepaid debit-card business, launching a pilot program targeting 600,000 taxpayers who receive tax refunds and inviting them to receive that money on a debit card instead of a paper check. To be sure, Uncle Sam is no relation to the Kardashians, who received a lot of scrutiny recently when they wandered into a PR disaster with their fee-laden offering pitched at the youngest and least savvy consumers out there.

In a statement, Treasury fiscal assistant secretary Dick Gregg says the department's goal is to keep Americans without bank accounts from paying exorbitant fees to check-cashing outlets and other unscrupulous businessses that operate outside the financial mainstream.