With the federal government’s self-imposed September 30 deadline to eliminate paper checks approaching, several organizations are stepping in to both support the initiative and potentially position themselves for new business opportunities. Nacha—which runs the ACH payment network—and Early Warning, parent company of Zelle, have submitted comments in support of the executive order, as well as a consortium of banking associations.
Executive Order 14247, titled “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account,” outlines a full transition to electronic payments for all federal disbursements. It states that the federal government will cease issuing paper checks for benefits, intragovernmental transfers, vendor payments, and tax refunds—and will stop accepting paper checks for payments—as soon as practicable.
Nacha’s Argument
Nacha’s support letter emphasized that transitioning away from checks is a matter of policy, not technical readiness. The organization noted that anyone writing a check to the federal government must have a bank account, and therefore could make an electronic payment instead. Nacha also urged Treasury to minimize hardship exceptions that would require the continued issuance of paper checks.
Last year, the Treasury Department originated more than 1.86 billion ACH payments totaling more than $8.5 trillion. In the same period, the federal government issued approximately 36 million paper checks. Nacha pointed out that if the Treasury Department had used ACH payments in place of those checks, the federal government would have saved more than $68 million.
Nacha also recommended that the Treasury shorten its ACH credit settlement times to align with standard ACH timing in the private sector.
Zelle Offers Its Services
Early Warning Services’ comments emphasized that transitioning away from paper checks would strengthen the government’s capabilities to detect improper payments and prevent fraud. Early Warning’s letter also positions Zelle as a viable replacement service for government payments.
The company notes that Treasury checks are 16 times more likely than digital payments to be reported as lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered. In contrast, more than 99.95% of all Zelle transactions are completed without any reported incidents of scam or fraud. Since 2021, Early Warning has been working with the Treasury, which has used its Verify Account solution to help prevent an estimated 179,000 improper payments across various government agencies.
Finally, The Bank Policy Institute, The Clearing House Association, and the Consumer Bankers Association jointly filed a letter supporting the executive order, describing the effort as “a critical opportunity to modernize America’s payment infrastructure, reduce fraud, and increase financial security for American taxpayers.”
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