Social Security Works to Popularize Direct Deposit.

Byline: Richard Newman

Dec. 29--Eugene B. Lawrence's Social Security checks stopped coming last year, but the North Bergen retiree isn't complaining. Since then, the monthly benefit has gone directly to his bank account by electronic transfer.

For his money, it's a better way.

"It saves the government money," he said. "It's convenient; it's reliable."

Lawrence is one of millions of Social Security recipients who signed up for direct deposit over the past two years. Following the lead of private employers who are saving millions of dollars by paying workers electronically, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin announced four years ago that by early 1999 recipients of Social Security …