How do you load data into the masked edit box with data taken from a database. It does not work for me?

This is the code I am using but to no avail. It works for a std textbox but not the masked edit. I have the mask set to "999-999-9999"

mbxHomePhone.text = data.Rows(intPos).Item(8)

I use this for the regular textbox and it works fine.

txtCity.Text = data.Rows(intPos).Item(5)