NACHA Celebrates Direct Deposit and Direct Payment Month with Announcements on New Usage Statistics and Increased Marketing Presence

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Bill Byrne
PainePR
212-613-4914
bbyrne@painepr.com

Herndon, Virginia, May 2, 2005 - NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association, in conjunction with its regional payment associations and financial institutions, will again be celebrating May as national Direct Deposit and Direct Payment Month. In 2004, NACHA calculated a 5.3 percent jump in Direct Deposits to more than 4.2 billion payments and a 6.7 percent increase in Direct Payments that resulted in 3 billion transactions.

Direct Deposit is currently used by 135 million people in the United States and 50 million households use Direct Payment to automatically pay at least one bill every month. However, billions of paper checks transactions could still be eliminated through increased acceptance of these two payment methods. Based on the previous success of 2004's marketing efforts surrounding the month, NACHA is again placing increased emphasis on Direct Deposit and Direct Payment transactions in May to educate the public about these tools and increase participation.

"The rise in Direct Deposit and Direct Payment usage is part of an overall upward trend we have seen in electronic payment methods. There is an increased shift in acceptance by consumers, businesses and financial institutions toward utilizing the ACH network to ensure quicker and more accurate payment transactions," said Elliott C. McEntee, President and Chief Executive Officer of NACHA. "In 2005, NACHA will maintain its marketing push on Direct Deposit and Direct Payment to encourage even greater usage of these reliable, accurate payment methods."

NACHA will continue to build upon the momentum generated from previous marketing efforts to extensively promote the benefits of Direct Deposit and Direct Payment through print and radio advertising, as well as consumer focused public relations efforts. These outreach programs will focus on encouraging more consumers to take advantage of these time and money saving financial tools.

NACHA has developed a comprehensive resource kit designed to promote increased usage of Direct Deposit and Direct Payment methods to help financial institutions and companies increase participation not only in May, but throughout the year as well. The kit is available for download at www.directdeposit.org and www.directpayment.org, and includes sample marketing plans, newsletter articles, news releases, proclamations, answers to frequently asked questions, and other resources designed to help organizations promote activities surrounding the month and encourage participation in these payment methods.

About NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association
NACHA is the leading organization in developing electronic solutions to improve the payments system. NACHA represents more than 11,000 financial institutions through direct memberships and a network of regional payments associations, and 650 organizations through its industry councils. NACHA develops operating rules and business practices for the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network and for electronic payments in the areas of Internet commerce, electronic bill and invoice presentment and payment (EBPP, EIPP), e-checks, financial electronic data interchange (EDI), international payments, and electronic benefits transfer (EBT). Visit NACHA on the Internet at www.nacha.org.