The mechanism. When a state workforce agency processes an unemployment claim, it rarely cuts a paper check anymore. It either direct-deposits the money or loads it onto a prepaid debit card, administered by a program manager (Conduent is the dominant one) and issued by a bank under contract, riding a Visa or Mastercard rail. The same architecture underlies child-support disbursement, some state tax-refund programs, and payroll cards for lower-wage employers who don't want to run direct deposit. It's not glamorous, and it never shows up as a line item in an earnings call -- but every swipe, ATM withdrawal, and balance inquiry generates interchange and fee revenue that recurs every benefit cycle, funded by taxpayer dollars that state agencies are contractually obligated to keep moving. The Department of Labor's 2024 guidance and the CFPB's Regulation E prepaid-account rule (12 CFR 1005.18) didn't kill the model -- they formalized it, explicitly folding "government benefit accounts" into federal consumer-protection plumbing that legitimizes and standardizes the rails states rely on.
Who cashes in: