Sixty per cent of US consumers are now using direct deposit facilities through the ACH, while over 50 per cent are making pre-authorized payments for recurring bills such as mortgage payments, according to NACHA. Apart from the convenience of e-payments, consumers using direct deposit and direct payment services can save over USD 400 per year by avoiding late payments or fees for paper-based payments. In 2003, NACHA handled over 4 billion direct deposit and almost 3 billion direct payments, while the latest usage rates for direct deposit show an increase of more than 4 per cent in 2004, versus last year’s totals.

Consumers using e-payment services are also 10 per cent less likely to experience identity theft, which affected over 7 million US consumers in 2003, by reducing the amount of paper bearing their personal data. While on vacation, 25 per cent of Americans without direct deposit leave their pay in their mailbox at work, and 19 per cent, in their home mailbox, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Enterprises using direct deposit and direct payments can similarly save USD 1,000 to over USD 15,000 per month, depending on size, by reducing or eliminating paper from their payment cycles.

With 8 in 10 Americans having incurred credit issues from a late payment, consumers using e-payment services avoid damaging their credit rating and save the equivalent of three days a year from not waiting in line to deposit a check, or writing and mailing checks. Although check fraud in the US exceeds USD 20 billion per year at a 25 per cent annual growth, e-payments have the potential to reduce fraud in that large dollar payments can be sent via wire transfer or the ACH. Retailers accepting e-payments also avoid the annual USD 5.9 billion that is lost to bounced checks, which amount to a grand total of almost USD 19 million across all sectors.

(Business Wire)