Representative Payee Debit Card

There really aren't any added risks involving the type of account. Clearly, issuing a debit card makes use of the account more convenient. I suppose there is a minimal added risk that the representative payee will pull out the wrong debit card when paying for a personal purchase or that he or she will allow the beneficial owner of the funds to use the card (not a good idea for obvious reasons). On balance, I don't believe there is enough incremental risk to warrant a policy of not issuing cards to representative payees.

First published on BankersOnline.com 8/20/07