Direct
Deposit
Have you seen this
symbol? Do you know what it is? It's the new logo of the Direct
Deposit Coalition.
You will see the
logo on materials from the Federal Reserve, NACHA, and other ACH
associations as well as the Treasury Department.
"We are working
with organizations across the country to get the logo placed
everywhere consumers may see it - on tax forms, payroll stubs, bank
windows, magazine ads, and Web sites," says Richard Oliver, senior
vice president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank and a spokesperson
for the Direct Deposit Coalition. "We hope this symbol quickly
becomes instantly recognizable to all consumers."
The good news
according to the Direct Deposit Coalition is that companies can save
up to $1.25 per payment and the government can save $.41 per payment
when direct deposit is used. The bad news is, in America, just 46
percent of employees use direct deposit, which may also tell us
something about how difficult it will be to get paper checks out of
the hands of consumers. (If you think Americans are touchy about
giving up their right to bear arms, consider giving up handling their
paychecks or even giving up check writing.)
On a related note
the fed has also found that use of direct payment by businesses has
many problems in common with the use of direct deposit of paychecks
by consumers.
In a survey
conducted by the Federal Reserve, "Lack of Need" was given as an
answer to why businesses did not offer direct payment 39% of the
time, with the second most common response (28%) being "Customers are
not interested in Direct Payment." The next three most common
responses were "Too time-consuming to change" (13%), "Too expensive"
(4%) and "Other" (16%).
For guidelines on
using the logo, call (888) 737-9444. For additional information about
the Direct Deposit Coalition, access
http://www.directdeposit.org.
For information on the A Summary of Consumer and Business Attitudes
on Direct Deposit and Direct Payment, see the complete study at
www.stls.frb.org/banking/ach.
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