Boomers don't trust direct deposit

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http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/27/news/economy/direct_deposit/index.htm?cnn=yes

Survey says generation lags behind seniors in usage -- a trend that may mean trouble for taxpayers.
December 27, 2005: 12:13 PM EST

CNN wrote:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Unlike today's seniors, the next generation of retirees is old-fashioned about direct deposit of paychecks and other payouts -- according to a survey released Tuesday, the "kids" don't trust it.

The survey, sponsored by the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Banks, found that 72 percent of seniors use direct deposit. In contrast, only 59 percent of Americans ages 45-64 -- the bulk of the baby boomer generation -- said they use it.

The findings could mean significant costs and security implications for Americans.

"If the trend with pre-retirees continues, the sheer size of the 77 million baby boomer population -- coupled with impending postage increases -- will drive up the government's costs to issue paper checks exponentially... and taxpayers will bear the burden," Dick Gregg, commissioner of the Treasury's Financial Management Service, said in a statement.

According to the survey, there were three main reasons given by the people who don't use direct deposit: 21 percent said they like to go to a financial institution to deposit their check; 19 percent said they don't trust direct deposit; and 18 percent said they like receiving a paper check.

The study was conducted as part of the government's "Go Direct" campaign, aimed at encouraging Americans who receive Social Security and other government benefit checks to have their money deposited directly into their bank or credit union accounts.

The telephone survey of 1,400 adults was conducted in December by KRC Research and had a 2.6 percent margin of error.

To this I say: huh? Who would be so, well, so ridiculous about such things? I love the 1/5 of all respondents who said they enjoyed going to a financial institution in order to deposit their checks. Is this a social outing of some sort? Am I missing out on the fun of hanging around at a bank and talking to tellers?

Enlighten me, my friends. What's the fun of going to the bank and hanging around with the tellers? Are they good conversationalists? Do they have the winning lottery numbers? Is it a place to pick up singles who know how to count and make change?

Or are you like me, happy to get direct deposit? It's never failed me, and I mean never, and I've gotten direct deposit from various companies I've worked for since, eek, 1986. It's the direct depositors versus the bank visitors, chained pens drawn at dawn. Prepare to be poked by a pen!

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I find it hard to believe that older people are more likely to use direct deposit than younger ones.

But if so, when the boomers ARE old, they may derive less joy from going to the bank. Or going anywhere else...

(Have you noticed, though, the phenomenon of old folks going to the bank after 5 p.m. to inquire about their balances? Just when you're trying to dash in after work to cash a check?)

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I think it's the same breed of folks who go to a store one minute before closing time, and then have a really complicated question or order, e. g. they need to have miniblinds perfectly cut for eighteen different oddly-shaped and -sized windows at Home Depot. Oof.

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Lots of folks do like to go and chat with the tellers. Tellers get to know their customers, ask about kids, dogs, surgeries, etc.

Baffles me, 'cause I just want my balance.

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jeez - that's incredible.

I resent even having to go through the drive-thru occasionally.

I loaned someone 5 bucks a while back, and the next week she said, "oh here's your money" and tried to hand me a check for $5.

I told her, "hold on to that until you have a 5 dollar bill. I don't want to have to take (read waste) a half hour to 45 minutes of my time to cash a check for something you owe me."

What I was thinking was "Gee great, I do something nice, then as a reward, I get to go to the bank! Weeeeee"

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I think that when those baby boomers start getting too old to haul their old bones to the bank they will start to trust direct deposit a little more. Wait until their drivers licenses are taken away from them. That number will go up. Besides, it's only a 13% difference.

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Ya beat me to it, roverroad.

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D'artagnan wrote:

I find it hard to believe that older people are more likely to use direct deposit than younger ones.

I don't. A few years back (mid 1980s??) the government mandated that anyone getting a monthly retirement, disability or SSA check had to have a checking account and get direct deposit setup (this also applied to all federal employees).

Someone filed a lawsuit and a day or two before the drop-dead date amd the "mandated" portion of the order was tossed out. But by that point most of the people getting these checks had already gone over to the direct deposit system and the SSA has promoted it heavily ever since then.

But anyway, like roverroad, I think the numbers will go up. Once those pre-retirees start retiring they'll be getting an earful from the SSA every month and more of them will start using direct deposit.

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Quote:

I think that when those baby boomers start getting too old to haul their old bones to the bank they will start to trust direct deposit a little more.

Roverroad- I think that you have hit the nail on the head. I find that the older that I get, the less complicated that I want to make my life. In fact, now that you can access bank accounts on the internet, it is very easy to check to see if any mistakes were actually made.

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Slowly, they will all turn to the dark side. Then I will be able to chat up the tellers myself, during the scads of leisure time I have.

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I hate checks, accept of course when they are unexpected and made out to me.

Nothing worse than women at the grocery paying by check, especially when you can see the scads of credit cards they have in their wallets. Why not use them ladies? I have a theory that women's toilets are check operated, and that's why the line is always so damn long.

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Why is it a problem with women? Don't men have checking accounts that they occasionally improperly use?

We were waiting on line at the cash register in the grocery last week and there was a guy who was completely clueless. This is a place where you can have your groceries sent down below so that they can be loaded into your car. Very convenient, totally free. They do it to keep people from stealing the carts, but it's still a nice thing.

Anyway, this dude had all of his groceries sent down and then, while paying (with a check, I might add), he suddenly realized he didn't want his stuff sent down. The poor bagger had to run down to the place where stuff is sent and retrieve it. Quelle idjit.

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Just that 99% of the time the check writer is female.

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To me, direct deposit is one of the greatest inventions that banking ever met up with. If there is a way to avoid going to the bank, I figure why not go for it.

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Right, but keep an eye on them. One of our employees has a direct deposit disappear from a wells fargo account. His wife checked on friday morning and it was there. Later, his debit card was declined and they had no record of the deposit. The bank fixed the problem and paid any overdraft charges, but when you bounce checks, it's hard to get the local people to trust you again. It's good, but you've got to keep an eye on them.

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I encourage my customers to pay us via ach - I just love it.

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husker wrote:

I encourage my customers to pay us via ach - I just love it.

Husker, pardon my stupidity, but what is ACH? I'm drawing a blank here.

I always use my debit card whenever I can. But there's a major grocery chain in the West that doesn't accept them. So, that's pretty much the only time I ever write a check. Everything else I pay on line. I wonder what percentage of Gen-X trusts direct deposit.

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The ACH Network is a highly reliable and efficient nationwide batch-oriented electronic funds transfer system governed by the NACHA OPERATING RULES which provide for the interbank clearing of electronic payments for participating depository financial institutions. The Federal Reserve and Electronic Payments Network act as ACH Operators, central clearing facilities through which financial institutions transmit or receive ACH entries.

ACH payments include:

Direct Deposit of payroll, Social Security and other government benefits, and tax refunds;
Direct Payment of consumer bills such as mortgages, loans, utility bills and insurance premiums;
Business-to-business payments;
E-checks;
E-commerce payments;
Federal, state and local tax payments.

Boomers don't trust direct deposit

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