SAG-AFTRA to Offer Residuals Payments via Direct Deposit for the First Time

SAG-AFTRA announced Wednesday, February 8, 2017, that it has struck a multiyear agreement with Los Angeles-based payments software company Exactuals to deliver residuals payments to its members through direct deposit.

Currently, the union processes about 4 million paper checks each year amounting to $1 billion in payments. Under the new agreement, the first of its kind in the entertainment industry, Exactuals will serve as a third-party broker to facilitate paperless transmission of data and funds between the studios and payroll houses to SAG-AFTRA and its members. Processing of funds will be handled by Exactuals through City National, which will electronically transfer funds to member accounts in any checking account at a domestic bank.

The service to members will be free of charge and will roll out over the course of 2017, according to a union spokesperson, on an optional, opt-in basis.

The deployment is expected to start in earnest after June 1, 2017, because SAG-AFTRA will likely be beginning contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in March ahead of contract expiration May 31, 2017. In addition, the union's fiscal year ends April 30, 2017.

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