June 24 - The Move Toward Becoming A Cashless Society

Dennis Simmons, the president and CEO of Dallas-based SWACHA, one of the largest not-for-profit electronic payment associations, referred to the new rules requiring that all social security recipients born after 1921 get direct deposit and that almost all public assistance payments are now done electronically. “There’s been a huge growth in the amount of monies that are being put onto these prepaid cards for people to have access to mainstream banking services,” he said.

Simmons said handling large transactions is easy, but there still needs to be work on developing ways to handle small, everyday purchases. “There’s some movement in those areas to make those so-called P to P, person to person payments, more electronic.”

According to a 2013 study, not only are people using online and mobile services more often to bank, people surveyed said they are also very comfortable with the security of electronic payments.

Banking experts say the use of cash will lessen, as the feeling of security, for things like direct deposit, becomes the norm with mobile banking.

Making the move toward electronic banking could also pay off for you – fiscally. Earlier this month a SWACHA survey showed that people who save their money, with scheduled direct deposits, are likely to save more.