Qualifying accounts for direct deposit of publicly administered funds.

Existing law requires unemployment compensation benefits administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD) , child support payments made through the State Disbursement Unit of the Department of Child Support Services, and specified public assistance payments, including payments made under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, that are directly deposited to an account of the recipient's choice to be deposited into a qualifying account. Existing law defines "qualifying account" for those purposes to mean, among others, a prepaid account or a demand deposit or savings account offered by or through an entity other than an insured depository financial institution that is not attached to an automatic credit or overdraft feature, unless the credit or overdraft feature has no fee, charge, or cost, or it complies with the requirements for consumer credit under the federal Truth in Lending Act. This bill would limit that prohibition on a fee, charge, or cost as it pertains to a credit or overdraft feature if specified requirements are met, including that the voluntary fee, charge, or cost paid can be refunded at the request of the consumer.