BANKS 



A MAIL SURVEY OF A RANDOM SAMPLE OF BANKS WAS MADE TO DETERMINE PROBLEMS 

 WITH THE POWER-OF-ATTORNEY PROCEDURE, WILLINGNESS TO CONTINUE FORWARDING 

 INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL TO BENEFICIARIES, AND PLANS FOR MARKETING A 

 POTENTIAL DIRECT -DEPOSIT SYSTEM. 



During meetings with representatives of 50 banks and the American Bankers 

 Association, suspected problems and concerns were discussed so that a 

 bank questionnaire could be developed. 



Tlie sampling frame for the regular survey of banks comprised a listing 

 of banks by State in alphabetical order maintained by Polk & Co. A 

 random selection of banks was purchased from them. The sample size was 

 determined by ORS so that it would yield reliability at the 05T' confi- 

 dence level with an error of plus or minus four percent. The. actual 

 number of banks selected was 701. 



Since the survey included banks which do not have power-of-attorney 

 social security beneficiaries, the bank questionnaire was designed in 

 two parts. The first part deals with current practices and was to be 

 completed if social security payments are deposited under the power- 

 of-attorney procedure. The second part was to be completed by all 

 banks. 



Figure A. 3 shows the cases used in the report. 



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