The checkbook, the well-known document for the collection of retirement pensions and social security in Cuba, will disappear as of August, when these pensions will start being paid through electronic payrolls.
Up to 80% of the more than 1.6 million Cuban social security beneficiaries have so far collected their pensions using the checkbook, a means that easily deteriorates or gets lost, explained the deputy director of the National Institute of Social Security (INASS), Haydée Franco, quoted by the newspaper Trabajadores.
With the disabling of the document “the insecurity of the retiree also ceases” as well as “the annual financing of more than 3 million pesos for its renewal” and the “cumbersome procedures” for those who used it, added Franco.
Starting next month, retirees will only need their identity card to collect their pension and, if they have one, they can use the checkbook matrix that they used until now, “because it shows the bank control number that will serve as a reference to collect the pension in the event of errors in the identity document,” says the publication.
#CubaInformatiza Desde agosto los Bancos, Cadecas y correos de toda el país #Cuba pagarán las pensiones a los jubilados por nómina electrónica @MTSS_CUBA @MartaEFeito @CubaBPA @Bandec97 @BanmetCuba https://t.co/7NvQmF2cQM
— Periódico Trabajadores (@50Trabajadores) July 27, 2020
The new measure eliminates the payment of pensions in grocery stores, used in some rural areas, since these establishments are not computerized nor do they have the security required to keep cash. However, payment is maintained in savings accounts authorized by banks, and the home service offered by payment managers from both bank and post offices.
The deputy director of INASS assured that “the Banco Metropolitano has made the pension cards of most of Havana’s beneficiaries, even of those who had to renew them in April 2021, therefore, they must apply for their card in August when collecting their pension.”
The clients of Banco de Crédito y Comercio (BANDEC) will be able to collect at any branch of that entity in Cuba, as they will use the online electronic payroll service.
Those pensioners who collect their pensions in offices of exchange houses or CADECAS will remain affiliated to the same branch they usually use.
Likewise, the advance payment will be gradually eliminated, so that these disbursements coincide with the established schedule.
Finally, Franco explained that there will be no changes in the payment in stages system used in bank branches, to avoid crowds and to comply with the hygienic-sanitary measures of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.
