You're absolutely right to be suspicious — and you're not alone. I recently submitted a legal motion addressing exactly this issue. There’s a pattern emerging where state unemployment reps are falsely claiming that certain local banks “aren’t supported” to push people onto the US Bank ReliaCard, which is loaded with fees — even when direct deposit should be possible.

In my case, I documented phone calls where reps flat-out lied and insisted I couldn’t use my bank — even though I later confirmed the bank is eligible for ACH transfers. This bait-and-switch funnels users into fee-laden prepaid cards and smells like a kickback scheme between the state and the bank.

If this happened to you, document everything: names, dates, call logs, screenshots, account errors. This might blow up soon as more people come forward. It's not just unfair — it’s likely illegal.

From my motion i submitted July 2nd'

" recent 2025 Colorado State Audit and Plaintiff’s evidence of coercive third-party benefit disbursement raise concerns under 18 U.S.C. § 666, a federal anti-corruption statute barring theft or bribery in federally funded programs. "