Feds Continue to Pay for Empty Bank Accounts

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April 25, 2013

The federal government will spend at least $890,000 this year on fees for empty bank accounts, according to an article in The Washington Post.

The bank accounts are from federal grants that have expired or been fully withdrawn. At that point the government is supposed to audit and close the account, but a history of delays and backlogs means the government is spending $65 per year to maintain over 13,000 empty accounts.

Here at POGO, we write about all kinds of wasteful programs and policies, but as the Post article points out, this is a rare find in Washington.

The money spent on the empty accounts is a tiny fraction of the federal budget. But, in its own way, it is something special: Washington’s waste, a rare specimen of cost untainted by any reward.

The Pentagon once paid $435 for a hammer, after all. But at least in that case it got a hammer.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Topics: Government Accountability

Related Content: Waste

Authors: Andre Francisco

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