The Payroll Card - What it Means to the Employer, Employee and Bank

Traditionally, a payroll covers functions of dispensing• The payroll card can also be used to directly
monetary benefits through wages, tax withholdings,withdraw cash from automated teller machines
deductions and rewards. It is a vital financial record for(ATMs), thus eliminating the inconvenience of a check
any company's accounts and is subject to the nationalcasher.
and state laws. It is also vital to good employee• The payroll card if debited to an individually owned
relations, since the timely and accurate remission ofdemand deposit accounts, is highly flexible and can be
their livelihood is naturally dear to employees. Onceused directly to pay bills.
again, traditionally, these financial transactions are• Some payroll cards, actually a majority of them,
remitted to the employee via paycheck or a pay slip.are FDIC insured.
No longer, though. More and more companies are• These cards are on the 'open loop' system and
turning to a more efficient and cost effective solutionoffer a high degree of flexibility as to its usability. This is
for both company and employee. Payroll cards arebecause they are used on a more universal PIN based
handy little plastic cards similar in nature and manner tonetwork and therefore are accepted and used
be used to a credit or debit card.beyond the user's registered location and its immediate
For companies, using this system is convenient andnearabouts.
beneficial for the following reasons:And lastly, we cover why the banks have offered
• The company saves money printing and issuingPayroll Card services at all. Banks do not directly offer
checksor market this service to customers at all. Instead they
• The company no longer has to buy expensiveapproach employers to integrate the service into their
check stockinternal wage dispensing processes, and then offer it
• The company lowers internal costs as result ofto their employees who do not have a direct deposit
the above mentioned pointsaccount. The four main aims of a bank in offering this
• The company no longer has to worry about anyfinancial service product to consumers are:
sort of check fraud, by default - there are no checks• By reducing payroll processing costs and
issued that could possibly end up lost or stolen.increasing the direct deposition adoption rate, it serves
• Using the payroll card system ensures a smoothas a cash management service to commercial
handling of dispensing of the function of the payroll tocustomers.
employees who do not have regular access to a• It provides a product to employees who want or
bank, or do not have a bank account for whateverrequire the functionality and the advantages of using a
personal or financial reason.debit card but do not or cannot manage a checking
For employees, using this system is convenient andaccount.
beneficial for the following reasons:• This obviously plays a role in benefiting the bank.
• The employee no longer has to pay interest toHow? Since it draws customers into using and
cash checksmaintaining their payroll card, a transition into more
• Since the monetary amount due to them is directlytraditional bank account holders becomes more
loaded or deposited onto a debit card, the employeepossible and this also encourages them to use other
can directly access their pay on it.and more of bank products.
• The payroll card can be used directly to make• Achieving all of the above profitably is the main
purchases at retail stores.aim of the bank.