Direct Deposit

DEAR ABBY: Please help me spread an important message to people who receive Social Security or other federal benefits each month via one of the estimated 5.4 million paper checks each month. Starting March 1, the Treasury Department is requiring all Social Security, VA, SSI and other federal beneficiaries receive their benefits by electronic payment. Senior citizens and other federal beneficiaries may choose either direct deposit or the Treasury-recommended Direct Express Debit MasterCard.

A group of area banks yesterday launched a $40,000 campaign to convince the elderly to use direct deposit for their Social Security checks. The campaign, called "Freedom Payments," is supposed to prove to retirees that they are better off using the government's system of depositing their checks electronically in their bank accounts, instead of the traditional method of obtaining the checks in the mail and personally bringing them to a bank teller...

About 5,000 checking account customers who were transferred from First Union to United Bank of Philadelphia failed to get funds through direct deposit in December and January, a bank official said. Hundreds of the deposits affected are Social Security checks which should have been sent Jan. 3, according to Chris Williams, spokesman for the Social Security Administration. Many of the other deposits were supposed to come from private retirement funds, said Ted Travis, director of marketing and communications at United.

For Philadelphia teachers cranky about paychecks again not arriving in the mail by Friday, the School District has two words: direct deposit . "We can't guarantee delivery by the post office," district spokesman Fernando Gallard said. "If you need a check by a guaranteed time, then sign up for direct deposit. " During the week before Christmas, which fell on a Sunday, some teachers said their checks had not arrived by Friday, as they had come to expect. That meant holiday gifts weren't bought and yuletide plans were fouled.

Do you still take a paycheck to the bank every week or two, waiting patiently in line for the smiling teller to stamp it and give you back a receipt, perhaps along with some cash? How crude. How old-fashioned. How inefficient. To be truthful, you're still in the majority. An estimated seven out of 10 American workers still receive a paper paycheck, which they deposit or cash by hand at a teller window or - if they are technologically advanced - at an automated teller machine.

Marion Newman thinks of her job as part tax collector, part welcome wagon. Her opponent, James Geslak, thinks of it as a fossil. And the Towamencin Board of Supervisors doesn't want to think about the antiquated position they are running for at all. In the two-way race for Towamencin's tax collector, bureaucratic entrenchment is grinding up against the 21st century. Newman, a 20-year incumbent, turned down an offer this year to take $10,000 - twice her salary - to sit on the sidelines and allow the township to collect its own taxes.

Ever wonder why you trudge to the bank each payday, spend your lunch hour standing in line, only to have a surly teller deposit your pay? Workers, revolt! Direct deposit can change your life, true believers say. "I haven't stood in a teller line for eight years; I was sick and tired of it," said Philip H. Fredricks, an engineer with United Engineers & Constructors Inc. in Philadelphia. Fredricks is one of the fortunate. Each payday his employer automatically - and with electronic ease - deposits Fredricks' pay into his bank account.

DEAR HARRY: One of my chief financial concerns is having control of my finances. I have set up a will, legal and medical powers of attorney, etc., through a lawyer who specializes in elder law. I'm still leery of online banking because of the security risk, the risk of errors, the possibility of getting confused. I am nearing 83 years old and feel that I'm slowing down. I'm thinking of setting up an automatic-payment plan to handle my monthly credit-card bill. For years, I have had direct deposit for my Social Security and my pension, as well as automatic payments for all my bills other than my credit card.

THE DIRECT-DEPOSIT BANKING SYSTEM IS DEFENDED Diane Rose's May 31 letter, which labeled direct deposit of payroll a "scam" that will lead to a government-controlled society, is high on hype but short on facts. Direct deposit not only allows employees to access their pay more quickly than with a paycheck, but it is a beneficial system for employers and financial institutions, too. The main assertion in Ms. Rose's letter is that direct deposit somehow leads to increased usage of credit cards.

People love to complain about the hassle and expense of dealing with banks: long teller lines, short hours and ever-increasing fees for every service from ATMs to checking accounts and credit cards. Next time you grumble, do something about it. Sign up for direct deposit. Getting your paycheck wired electronically into your bank account saves time, and now it's also a great way to save money. It can cost banks more than $1 every time you deposit a paper check. So they're willing to pay you to stop.

DEAR HARRY: One of my chief financial concerns is having control of my finances. I have set up a will, legal and medical powers of attorney, etc., through a lawyer who specializes in elder law. I'm still leery of online banking because of the security risk, the risk of errors, the possibility of getting confused. I am nearing 83 years old and feel that I'm slowing down. I'm thinking of setting up an automatic-payment plan to handle my monthly credit-card bill. For years, I have had direct deposit for my Social Security and my pension, as well as automatic payments for all my bills other than my credit card.

Thanks for the memories, Andrew Bynum. It was quite a time. The hairdos, the tough 7-10 splits, the hours spent on the anti-gravity treadmill. And hey, we'll always have London. That's where Doug Collins, Josh Harris, and Adam Aron were when the 76ers made the megadeal that brought Bynum to Philadelphia. In that spirit, those same chaps should bid Bynum "Cheerio" as the NBA resumes its season after the all-star break. No more updates on Bynum's, ahem, progress. No more speculating on whether the Sixers should consider a long-term deal with the 7-foot center.

DEAR ABBY: Please help me spread an important message to people who receive Social Security or other federal benefits each month via one of the estimated 5.4 million paper checks each month. Starting March 1, the Treasury Department is requiring all Social Security, VA, SSI and other federal beneficiaries receive their benefits by electronic payment. Senior citizens and other federal beneficiaries may choose either direct deposit or the Treasury-recommended Direct Express Debit MasterCard.

For Philadelphia teachers cranky about paychecks again not arriving in the mail by Friday, the School District has two words: direct deposit . "We can't guarantee delivery by the post office," district spokesman Fernando Gallard said. "If you need a check by a guaranteed time, then sign up for direct deposit. " During the week before Christmas, which fell on a Sunday, some teachers said their checks had not arrived by Friday, as they had come to expect. That meant holiday gifts weren't bought and yuletide plans were fouled.

With no presents for her children and $3.20 in her checking account, it wasn't the merriest of Christmases for Crystal Wright Edwards. Edwards, a teacher, blames her employer: the Philadelphia School District. The paychecks of hundreds - perhaps thousands - of district employees were late. At 5 p.m. Tuesday, Edwards' check finally arrived. As she put it: "Angry can't even begin to describe how I feel. " District spokesman Fernando Gallard said the checks went out on time, with "no issue on our end. " His villain?

Because of address errors, the IRS has $153 million in refunds it couldn't deliver to 99,123 taxpayers this year, the agency announced yesterday. That's an average of $1,547 per check. Those who think they have money coming can check by going to www.irs.gov and using the "Where's My Refund?" tool. Social security number, filing status, and the exact refund amount from the submitted return are required. Another option is to call the IRS refund hotline at 1-800-829-1954.

Mother's Day is second only to the winter holidays when it comes to consumer spending. If you're gearing up to buy jewelry, flowers or a nice dinner, don't spend more because you've procrastinated. In other words, act now. To help you stay on top of financial matters big and small, here are some of the key dates and money matters to keep an eye on. May 1: No more paper - Anyone applying for Social Security benefits after May 1 will receive their payments electronically.

There's one conclusion that wins the agreement of just about everyone in the Social Security debate. And it doesn't have anything to do with the system per se. It's that Americans don't save enough for retirement, or for any other purpose. The personal savings rate stands at a mere 1 percent of disposable income, down from 5 percent a decade ago. Getting today's younger workers to put more money away isn't going to prevent Social Security from running short of money in the future.

A paper chase is nearing an end for hundreds of thousands of child-support recipients in Pennsylvania. This month, recipients of court-ordered support payments in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, and Montgomery Counties will receive notification that the checks will no longer be in the mail but in a debit card. Since August, the state has been phasing in the debit system to replace the support checks that are sent out from Harrisburg, according to officials. The program started in Philadelphia in February.

The banner hanging over a National Guard aid station in this hurricane-blasted city yesterday said "Something Can Be Done About It," but the general feeling among residents was not nearly so upbeat. Four days after Hurricane Charley ripped across southwest Florida and destroyed nearly everything in Punta Gorda, a sleepy harbor town of 14,000 residents 100 miles south of Tampa, hundreds of thousands in the region are still without power, running water, or even homes. For many, the initial shock over Charley's devastation has given way to frustration and despair at living conditions that are not unlike those in the Third World.