Conduent, Comerica Bank Facing Class Action Alleging EPPICard Users Have No Recourse for Fraudulent Transactions

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A Georgia resident has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Conduent Business Services, LLC, Comerica, Inc. and Comerica Bank over allegations that the companies refuse to refund EPPICard users whose accounts have been subject to fraud.

The plaintiff sometimes receives temporary unemployment benefits whenever there is a work stoppage or slow down at his full-time manufacturing job, the complaint says. Though Georgia used to issue temporary unemployment benefits via check, the state, like more than 20 others, now elects to issue MasterCard-branded debit cards, called EPPICards. The case adds that in switching from checks to debit cards, Georgia retained defendants Conduent and Comerica to issue and administer the cards.

The first allegation detailed in the complaint pertains to the defendants’ alleged non-adherence to their own Terms of Use, which the plaintiff argues is offered to benefits recipients on a “take it or leave it” basis. In instances when a benefits recipient has had his or her card stolen or experienced fraud on his or her account, the complaint alleges, the defendants offer little, if any, help:

“Despite the clear language in the Terms of Use with respect to (1) the procedures that cardholders must follow regarding lost or stolen cards and unauthorized activity, and (2) the limitations on a cardholders’ liability for fraudulent charges and unauthorized uses, [the defendants] routinely ignore these contractual obligations in direct violation of the Terms of Use. 

Instead of following the procedures outlined in the Terms of Use, [the defendants] engage in a pattern of conduct that includes sham investigations and improper denial of meritorious claims regarding fraudulent charges and unauthorized uses.”

The defendants, the complaint alleges, leave participants of their EPPICard program “holding the bag” on possibly thousands of dollars of fraudulent charges. This pattern of conduct, the plaintiff claims, has led him to make it a practice to not use his EPPICard at all, but rather leave it in his personal safe and still attached to the paper with which it was first sent.

During a phone call with the defendants to verify that the Georgia Department of Labor had remitted payments to his account and to check his balance, the plaintiff reportedly learned that more than $12,500 in fraudulent charges had been pinned to his account. The plaintiff’s account was flagged for fraudulent activity and the man was told he would be sent the necessary paperwork to dispute the supposedly fraudulent activity. According to the complaint, the plaintiff filed a report with his local police and reported the fraud to the MasterCard Assistance Center. In September 2017, the defendants informed the plaintiff that it could not be confirmed that fraud had occurred on his account. The plaintiff wondered how the defendants could’ve finished their investigation when the plaintiff had been “unable to provide them with any written documentation regarding the fraudulent transactions because EPPICard refused to provide him with copies of his statements despite numerous requests.”

“As of the filing of this complaint, [the defendants] still refuse to refund [the plaintiff] the $12,506.63 that was fraudulently removed from his account,” the case reads.