Electronic payments guarantee best stimulus payment disbursement

Only electronic methods guarantee the rapid disbursement of CARES Act funds to American families in a safe and secure manner, CUNA and other financial trade organizations wrote to the Treasury Friday. As it stands now, CUNA understands the Treasury could mail as many as tens of millions of paper checks in just a few weeks.

“Checks are slow to print and mail, expensive to deliver, prone to being lost, stolen, forged, and altered, and have privacy and environmental implications that electronic payments have overcome through American innovation,” the letter reads. “Our strongest recommendation, as private sector payments practitioners, is that paper checks be viewed as a last resort or use of checks is avoided completely.”

The organizations also express fear that underbanked Americans will turn to “expensive check cashers or unscrupulous lenders,” which will dampen intended stimulus effects.

CUNA and the other organizations made several recommendations for Treasury, including:

• Maximize automatic direct deposit;

 

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