Improving Government Disbursements to the Elderly

City of Bogota, Colombia Government Subsidy Payments

City of Bogota Turns to Citi to Modernize Payment Systems and Improve Service to Beneficiaries

The Challenge

For years the City of Bogota distributed cost of living subsidy payments to elderly citizens via cash; a demanding process in terms of infrastructure, personnel and cost. The City of Bogota had to process the cash payments in person at multiple locations around the city, which required massive inventories of cash. On paydays they then had to manage long lines of people at each office, which required personnel to count, recount, and then distribute the cash.

On top of this, many of the beneficiaries lived in the outskirts of the city, requiring them to make what was often a difficult and costly trip into the city center each month to collect their payment. The City of Bogota realized that they needed a solution that was more efficient, cost effective and streamlined to provide easier access to funds for beneficiaries and also alleviate the massive operational burden for the City.

The solution

The City of Bogota turned to Citi to rapidly implement a cost of living subsidy program that eliminated cash and moved all subsequent payments to electronic delivery using personalized prepaid cards. Citi's dedicated prepaid division, Citi Prepaid Services, designed a card solution called the Citi® PayTM Card to address the City of Bogota,s biggest challenges:

Eliminated Costs: Eliminated management and distribution of cash
Faster Delivery: Funds get to beneficiaries quickly and can be used instantly
Streamlined Operations: A single process to manage and deliver payments electronically
Easier Management: Reduced personnel to administer and reconcile program payments
Reduced Fraud: Enhanced fraud detection and monitoring and fraud protection

Citi quickly implemented a comprehensive solution and allowed for full customization of communications. Citi also consulted closely with the City of Bogota to effectively communicate the enhancement to users not familiar with traditional banking products, and participate in custom beneficiary training.

The Result

The Citi Prepaid Government Subsidy Solution is focused on providing an unmatched user experience to City of Bogota beneficiaries that is convenient, flexible and dependable. The solution is also designed to provide operational efficiency and cost savings to the City of Bogota, allowing for 100% electronic payments. It is a program that not only includes a benefit card, but a number of additional strategies and solutions to meet the unique needs of the beneficiaries. Citi provides live, in-person customer service agents at the benefits office to ensure that each recipient knows how to use their card after they come in to pick it up for the first time. This was a critical step to ensuring acceptance of the program, among a demographic that had largely never used a card product before. To date Citi has issued over 100,000 cards for the City of Bogota, and continues to provide in-person customer service on an ongoing basis to beneficiaries that have questions about their card. It is a comprehensive solution that allowed the City of Bogota to easily migrate to a completely paperless payment delivery process, while catering to the unique needs of their citizens.