Government Benefit Checks Bite the Dust: Hudson Event on the Digital Future

WASHINGTON--After May 1, new applicants for government benefits, ranging from Social Security to veterans' disability payments, will no longer be able to get payment in the form of paper checks. By 2013, all nine million current check recipients must find a new way to receive their payments--via direct deposit or debit card. Will the disadvantaged and elderly be able to make this leap into the digital future?

This change in payment will occur at a time when many forces are roiling the consumer financial services market. Will banks pursue these potential new customers? Will the prepaid debit card market expand with customized institution-specific debit cards?

Hudson Institute will host a discussion of these topics, which are raised in a new paper by Visiting Fellow Hanns Kuttner entitled "The Move to Digital Payment: When the Check Is No Longer in the Mail." (http://www.hudson.org/DigitalPayment0411)

Contact for Hanns Kuttner: hkuttner@hudson.org.

What: Hudson Institute Panel on "When the Check Is No Longer in the Mail: The Move to Digital Payment"