Financial Groups Appeal to Americans to Increase Use of Electronic Payments

When businesses, financial institutions and payments associations celebrate Direct Deposit and Direct Payment Month again this May, the focus will be on increasing consumers’ use of electronic payments by highlighting the financial security and control benefits of these services.

“The primary reasons that consumers list for not using these services is control and security,” said Elliott C. McEntee, president and CEO of NACHA. “What they don’t necessarily realize is that using electronic payments is a safer way to get paid and pay bills. Using Direct Deposit and Direct Payment makes consumers less vulnerable to theft of private information than when dealing with checks. An electronic payment is seen by far fewer people than is a check and contains less personal information about the payer. This is important, especially with today’s concerns about identity theft.”

Most people that are offered Direct Deposit for their paychecks use it. However, many small and medium size businesses don’t think that Direct Deposit is an efficient way to pay their employees. “During May, we encourage financial institutions to educate their small business clients about the convenience and financial benefits of Direct Deposit,” said McEntee. “Even small businesses can save more than $5,000 per year by converting their payrolls to Direct Deposit. And large corporations need to move towards Direct Deposit for expense reimbursements, pension payment and bonuses.”