Last Friday, the Treasury Department announced that they were working with Comerica Bank to begin rolling out new debit cards linked to social security and other federal income benefit programs in an effort to save the taxpayers some money and reduce some of the headaches related to the issuance of paper checks. The cards, according to CNNMoney.com, would be Direct Express debit cards with FDIC insurance and be completely rolled out by the end of the summer. Part of the impetus for this move was that a lot of Social Security recipients don’t even have bank accounts and 90% of the SS payment problems were linked to this, so the issuance of paper checks was becoming cumbersome. This move would save an estimated $44M a year, which is significant savings in my book.
Source: CNN Money
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2 responses to “New Social Security Debit Cards”
Seems like direct deposits to bank accounts are the simplest and cheapest way. While the credit card might save over paper, there will still be substantial cost. No reason for anyone not to have a bank account. Banks are hungry for new accounts and love any that will have a direct deposit from the Fed.
Yeah but this one addresses the issue of so many people not even having a bank account. But otherwise I’d agree with you.