Atlanta-based electronic payment processing outfit, Lynk Systems, Inc., has been selected as the technology provider for the U.S. debit card (USDC) through the Department of the Treasury. The USDC, a magnetic stripe bank card, is designed to replace cheques, vouchers, imprest funds and cash for government agency use.
The USDC can be issued "on-the-spot" to a payee in a federal agency's office, or it can be issued out of a central office and mailed to the payee. The card can be loaded with a fixed amount of value and discarded once the value is spent, or federal agencies can make multiple payments to the payee and issue the card as a reloadable payment. The payee can then use the USDC at ATMs to make cash withdrawals, or at point of-sale (POS) terminals to make retail purchases.
The value loaded onto the cards is PIN protected and backed by a commercial bank.