Governments Use Electronic Payments

Many of my organization’s financial institution members are well aware of the problems that their customers can encounter when dealing with the delays in government payments [“Tardy Government Payments Cause Turmoil for Small Firms,” At Issue, July 21].

I would, however, dispute one assertion regarding electronic payments. Not only does the technology for large-scale electronic payments by government agencies exist today, but it is currently being used extensively. The state of Texas pays a significant number of its vendors electronically. The Financial Management Service, the disbursing arm of the U.S. Treasury, currently processes millions of payments using direct deposit of vendor payments with very significant savings to taxpayers.

There are a variety of organizations that can assist with this process. Electronic Commerce Resource Centers exist for this purpose. In California, the Western Payments Alliance actively promotes the use of electronic payments. It can be contacted over the Internet at https://www.wespay.org.

DENNIS SIMMONS

AAP SouthWestern

Automated Clearing House Assn.

DALLAS