Nationwide Direct Deposit Week Debuts in October

St. Louis Switches to New Viewing Software

Save Money, Time With Online Processing

Newsletters and Web Sites Offer Year 2000 Information

Major FedLine Changes Coming

Study Shows Education Needed on Direct Payment

District Roundup on EBT

ReserveNotes

Save Money, Time With Online Processing

To ensure you receive cost-effective and efficient services, the Fed is encouraging customers who send and receive funds transfer and book-entry information on paper, or "offline," to begin using their FedLine® software.*

Depending on the number of wires or book-entry transfers your financial institution processes, going online can save you a substantial amount of money. Each wire and book-entry transfer costs $12.40 and $10, respectively. With FedLine, the current online fee is only $0.40 for wire transfers and $2.25 for book-entry processing (these prices could be lower in the future).

In addition to cost savings, your financial institution saves valuable time through online processing by eliminating four-party callback procedures, which require two employees from your organization to participate in each transaction.

Ed Furman, vice president at First Bank in Creve Coeur, Mo., recently began using FedLine for online securities transfers and is experiencing substantial cost savings and improved operating efficiencies.

"We have reduced our transaction costs 80 percent and streamlined collateral pledging, which saves a significant amount of time and labor," says Furman.

He also credits the switch to online securities transfers as the factor that enabled him to avoid hiring temporary help when an employee was on maternity leave.

If you have questions or want an analysis of your potential annual cost savings from using online transactions, please call Flora Armon in St. Louis at (314) 444-8612.

* Later this year the Boston Fed will service customers making offline funds and book-entry security transfers (see related Reserve Note).