“This is a move that benefits all parties involved,” said Dennis Simmons, AAP, president and CEO of SWACHA, a not-for-profit, Dallas-based regional electronic payments association and a member of the Treasury’s Go Direct public education effort. “Electronic payments are more secure than paper checks and are deposited faster than paper checks. They also help the Treasury reduce costs by eliminating printing, postage, and labor and equipment costs associated with paper billing, not to mention the environmental benefits of eliminating the use of paper, reducing the number of trucks on the road and so on.”
As federal and state governments move to cards for Social Security and other kinds of benefits, they will need to make sure that the programs are set up correctly to achieve true cost savings. For recurring payments, cards are doubtlessly less expensive. However, for a one time payout, the cost of a plastic card exceeds that of a paper check. The government will also need to make sure it and its card partners have adequate fraud controls in place, because it is much easier to use someone else’s card than it is to cash someone else’s check.
Read the full story at: http://www.banktech.com/payments-cards/229400223
