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Article: E-Benefit Accounts Fail To Gain Broad Usage: Big-bank efforts could revive program in '01.(social security direct deposit program)
- Article from:
- American Banker
- Article date:
- December 12, 2000
- Author:
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The story of the federal government's effort to deliver Social Security and other payments to millions of recipients who lack bank accounts is Washington political theater at its best -- and worst. And nearly six years after the plan was conceived, it has hardly advanced past Act One.
About 5,000 people have opened an Electronic Transfer Account, or ETA, which is a low-cost, government-designed account available at banks that take direct deposits from Uncle Sam. That figure is a drop in the bucket compared with the five million to seven million consumers that policymakers are trying to reach.
Slightly more than 600 banks, thrifts, and credit unions, with ...