As part of efforts to combat recent fraudulent activity, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department (Treasury) and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) are transitioning recipients of unemployment benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) programs to payment by electronic deposits on debit cards.

You may have previously received one or more weeks of payments in the form of checks. Treasury and L&I implemented payment by check as an immediate, but temporary, response to reports of fraud. Payment by check, however, is a slow and resource-intensive method of distributing benefits, and is also subject to the delivery schedules of the U.S. Postal Service.

PUA CLAIMANTS WHO ALREADY HAVE A U.S. BANK RELIACARD

Treasury has already resumed making payments on debit cards for PUA claimants who previously received a U.S. Bank ReliaCard.¹

PUA CLAIMANTS WHO HAVE NOT REQUESTED A U.S. BANK RELIACARD

ReliaCards, which provide a secure, reliable, and prompt method of delivering funds, are being mailed to you at this time. As additional claimants are identified who have not yet received ReliaCards, their information is forwarded to U.S. Bank for preparation and mailing of debit cards. You should expect to receive your card starting from about June 19, 2020, until about July 7, 2020.

You do not need to do anything to obtain your U.S. Bank ReliaCard. It will be delivered to you automatically. The ReliaCard will arrive in a plain envelope, with a postmark from Indianapolis, IN. You should be careful not to discard this piece of mail.

You will receive PUA and PUA-related FPUC benefits payments through the ReliaCard, which is a prepaid Visa debit card. The ReliaCard offers a fast and secure way to receive benefits payments, while also providing easy ways to access your money. With ReliaCard, you can make purchases anywhere Visa cards are accepted, get cash back with a purchase, pay bills, and withdraw cash² at more than 3900 in-network ATMs in Pennsylvania, all without incurring fees. You can monitor your card balance and transactions using the ReliaCard mobile app or cardholder website at usbankreliacard.com. You can sign up for email or text³ alerts to let you know when your benefits are received. You can also transfer funds from your ReliaCard to your bank account². Fees apply for some transactions and services offered.

Additional important information about the ReliaCard is available here.

You can request to have payments by check reinstated. Checks will be sent via regular first class mail, and generally take from four to six business days following the day of filing. Please also be aware that the enormous volume of benefits payments resulting from the coronavirus pandemic has placed extraordinary demands on both L&I and Treasury. There have been recent instances where these challenges resulted in unpredictable delays and interruptions, frequently in the production and mailing of benefits checks. Delivery of checks in the future is subject to similar uncertainties.

If you wish to receive payment by check, please visit the Treasury website at https://www.patreasury.gov/ucpuachoice and provide the information requested there.

^1.The ReliaCard is issued by U.S. Bank National Association pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. © 2020 U.S. Bank. Member FDIC.

^2.Fees and transaction limits apply. See Fee Schedule and Card Carrier for details.

^3.For text messages, standard messaging charges apply through your mobile carrier and message frequency depends on account settings.