Are You Using Direct Deposit?
I am and I can’t think of any reason why not using it as long as I have a bank account. It’s safe (I don’t have to worry about losing the check) and it’s fast (there’s no delay for the money to show up in my account). However, it appears that not everybody is using the convenient service. As a matter of fact, nearly one third of Americans don’t use it, according a survey sponsored by Treasury Department’s Go Direct:
Americans say direct deposit tops both ATM cards and checkbooks as their most important tool for managing personal finances. Yet approximately one in three Americans still do not use direct deposit, including nearly 10.5 million Social Security recipients, despite the widespread opinion that direct deposit is reliable and safe.
So why one out of three respondents doesn’t use direct deposit? It’s not because they don’t have bank accounts. It’s because their employers just don’t offer it! Well, I am glad my employers provided direct deposit to make my life easier.
While direct deposit, as the survey indicated, is one of the most favorable tools, there are far many people don’t like the idea of banking online. For me, I don’t think I can live without online banking now. It’s my tool for paying bills and transferring funds and save me both money and time. I can’t image what it would look like if I have to go back to the old days when everything was done with paper checks. Then, the idea of online banking isn’t so popular. According to the same survey, only 32% think online banking is a very important financial tool. This somehow is understandable, given the degree people worry about the safety of their identities.
How important do you think online banking is?
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You are absolutely correct. I use online banking for everything. Infact i have stopped all mails from all my credit cards and banks.
Yet my firm does not do direct deposit. It has more to do with the mindset. My firm’s management group consists of older people (50+) who still prefer the traditional method of payment (It is a hassle to actually go to the bank and deposit checks every 2 weeks).
Guess i need a new job. Infact if you know someone looking for an electrical/computer engineer let me know.
Same here I use DD and cannot live without online banking.
I love online banking too, but it does concern me that everything is so computerized. All a terrorist has to do is hack into the banks and scramble everyone’s accounts (or just make all balances = “$0″). Or hack into our utility companies and cut off all energy supplies. Or hack into the Pentagon’s security/defense system. Everything’s online!!! I know, I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but still…
This is OT, but I nearly had a heart attack at seeing one of the related articles titled “Say Goodbye to EmigrantDirect”. Fortunately, it was not about EmigrantDirect going under, ala NetBank.
When my wife changed jobs last year, we were without direct deposit for a couple of months (while it was all getting set up).
It was a big pain to not have it, especially since we rarely go to the ATM. Checks didn’t get deposited on time, we had to go out of our way … it was annoying.
Well, I had a recent credit report pulled from Experian. It listed under my employer section a company that I haven’t worked for in years. It turns out that that company is the only one that I have ever done a Direct Deposit with for my salary. Did you also know that employers are outsourcing Direct Deposit services to be performed by other companies? Direct deposit doesn’t just mean that money goes in, you’re also giving someone the authority to take money out “if necessary.”
Please…are you kidding me? I love Direct Deposit. The convenience, the speed, no paper check hassles??..What’s not to love?
It’s only the crowning jewel of the payroll process. I helped get it started with my employer and I was one of the first 3 employees to sign up for it.
My wife works for a Company that offers it and the first thing I did (because I print her schedule for her), was enable Direct Deposit of her check to our account.
For Dan: The only authorization that an employer has to pull out money is if the amount deposited is wrong. It even states that on all direct deposit paper forms. It’s common knowledge that just as you would have to pay the Company that extra money back, they would just submit a request to retract the extra funds (minus taxes that are taken out of your check).