Sixteen Democratic senators are asking regulators to examine the use of ATM-style cards to pay hourly employees, the New York TimesDealBook blog reported today. The senators in a letter yesterday urged Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Seth D. Harris, the acting secretary of the Labor Department, to “take swift action to protect American workers.” Across the country, a growing number of companies are doing away with paper paychecks and, in some instances, direct deposit, to offer prepaid cards. The problem, though, according to consumer lawyers and employees, is that in the vast majority of cases, using the cards can generate large fees—50 cents for a balance inquiry and $2.25 for an out-of-network automated teller machine, for example.
