Beginning today, unemployment insurance payments in Colorado are fully digital.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment printed its last unemployment insurance check Friday, ending a 73-year run.
Benefits will be paid through the new Colorado Automated Payment Card, a Visa debit card that can access automated teller machines for cash or be used to make purchases directly. About 30,000 unemployed workers receive benefits in any given month, a number expected to grow as the economy softens.
The new system, managed by Chase, will provide money more quickly and securely than the old method of mailing checks, said department spokesman Bill Thoenes.
The department expects to save $209,475 in postage costs alone the first year by eliminating paper checks.
Recipients can access a bank teller or ATM outside the Chase system once per month without a fee.
Eventually, the department would like to offer the direct deposit of unemployment insurance funds into a recipient’s own bank account, Thoenes said.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
