Story of elderly people receiving pension through account in Hai Duong

Forget this, mistake that

At 8:00 a.m. on November 17, Mrs. Pham Thi Sao, born in 1950 in Hai Tan Ward (Hai Duong City), and her husband arrived at the VietinBank Hai Tan Transaction Office. After just a few minutes, they had withdrawn several million dong in pension. "Now, withdrawing money from our accounts is relatively convenient and easy for my husband and I. But before, there was a time when I went to the bank and suddenly remembered that I had forgotten my citizen identification card, so I had to go back home to get it. When I returned to the bank, I couldn't remember my account number," said Mrs. Sao.

Also having just received her pension through her account, Ms. Pham Thi Chien, born in 1948 in Dinh Son commune (Cam Giang) cannot forget an incident that happened nearly 4 months ago. That day, after seeing a message notifying that her pension had been deposited into her account, Ms. Chien immediately opened a notebook to record the steps to transfer money through the account to a relative. After following the correct steps and entering the account number to transfer the money, she called her relative but was told that she had not received the money yet. “A while later, my son called to ask why I had transferred the money, then I realized that I had entered the wrong account number. Luckily, I transferred it to my son, otherwise things would have been very complicated. From then on, I authorized my son to go to the bank to withdraw cash every time I received my pension. I also stopped transferring money through my account myself,” Ms. Chien said.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, born in 1940 in Nhi Chau ward (Hai Duong city), often reads news on many electronic newspapers. Once, Ms. Hoa read information about the bank automatically converting savings into insurance money. “As soon as I finished reading, I went to the ATM near my house to withdraw money. When I got there, I forgot my card at home. After going back to get it, I went back to the ATM and saw a notice that the ATM was under maintenance. So I had to go to the bank to withdraw money,” Ms. Hoa said.

Support the elderly in digital transformation

Some of the above difficulties and problems are also common limitations that many elderly people have encountered during the process of receiving pensions and transacting via accounts in the past. "Each time I receive my pension directly is like a time to chat with friends. Besides, my pension is only a few million VND, and the number of ATMs in my commune is not much, so I still choose to receive it in cash directly," said Mr. Bui Huy Boc, born in 1949 in Hiep Luc commune (Ninh Giang).

For the same reasons, the rate of elderly people receiving pensions through bank accounts in the whole province is still relatively low. According to data compiled by the Provincial Social Insurance, by the end of October 31, 2023, the whole province had only more than 23,150 out of a total of 96,825 people receiving pensions through accounts, reaching nearly 24%. The average monthly pension amount sent through bank accounts was only over 123 billion VND, accounting for 27.5% of the total pension amount. Although there was an increase of 4% in the number of people receiving through accounts and an increase of 5% in the amount transferred through accounts compared to the end of 2022, according to the assessment of the Provincial Social Insurance, this rate is still modest.

As we have mentioned, the majority of the elderly have a need to use cash, especially those over 70 years old, who have long retired, and have little access to smartphones or information technology. The province currently has more than 300 ATMs, but this network of cash withdrawal machines is unevenly distributed, mainly concentrated in urban areas. Therefore, it affects the elderly's ability to withdraw money when their pensions have "flowed into" their accounts.

The benefits of paying pensions and benefits through bank accounts cannot be denied. However, it can be said that the elderly are currently only changing from receiving cash directly from payment points in communes and wards to receiving money from banks. That means they have not really taken full advantage of the convenience of paying pensions through accounts. This is an unavoidable reality because for the elderly, cashless payments are still very difficult. They need the support of insurance agencies, banks, family members, especially community digital technology groups. From there, the group of elderly people accessing technology will be expanded. Only when the elderly can proficiently use applications on smartphones, will the payment of pensions and social insurance benefits through accounts, especially cashless payments, be fully effective and meaningful.