EZPay card

EagleCash and EZpay are cash management applications that use stored-value card technology to process financial transactions in "closed-loop" operating environments. The programs are sponsored by the US Department of the Treasury for the US Military. The programs are administered for the Treasury by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and are in use at approved CONUS and OCONUS US military facilities. The systems utilize a plastic payment card, similar to a credit or debit card, which has an embedded microchip which keeps track of the amount of money stored on the card and interfaces with encrypted card acceptance devices. This allows soldiers with the card to purchase goods and services at US military posts and canteens, without carrying cash, or manage their personal bank accounts while on deployment or in training. The program reduces the amount of US currency required overseas, reduces theft, saves thousands of man-hours in labor, helps reduce the risk of transporting cash in battlefield environments, and increases security and convenience for service members. It helped reduce or eliminate the need for cash and money orders.^[1]

Overview and history[link]

Originally developed in 1997, the EZpay system was born as a pilot project aimed at inductees going into basic training, to alleviate some of the stress and cost of managing money while away from home.^[1] Many US military bases are structured like small towns, where goods and services are available for sale. However, transferring wages into cash, in order to purchase desired products has traditionally been a struggle.^[2] The system works through soldiers receiving an advance on their wages in the form of the EZPay card, which they can then use to purchase goods and services, such as haircuts, snacks, and recreational activities at on-base shops and stores. At the end of basic training, the balance on the card would be reconverted into cash, and paid back to the soldiers.^[1] The project was a great success, since it eliminated the need for bases to keep money on hand, and saved soldiers approximately $125,000 a year in banking fees.^[3]

Around the same time, the EZPpay system was expanded for overseas use during the aftermath of the 1992-1995 War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where US personnel were deployed on peace-keeping missions.^[1][4] Named "EagleCash", the overseas system functions similarly to the EZpay system, but with the added ability of soldiers to attach personal bank accounts to the card, allowing them to load, and reload, without having to access their financial institutions back home. As 386th Air Expeditionary Wing financial manager, Catherine Miles explained in a 2007 article, "It's like a gift card. [...] You can put as little or as much money as you want on it and it comes from your checking account."^[5] Unlike regular debit cards, the Eagle Cash is managed on-base, using batch processing which ensures that the cards remained useful even when connections to banks and credit unions State-side are severed.^[6] The system was given widespread acceptance in 1999, just before the War in Iraq; it has since been expanded to many military bases such as Camp Anaconda on the front lines.^[6]

Benefits and savings[link]

For soldiers, the benefits are straightforward, but for the officers in charge of the system the benefits are much more extensive. Transporting US currency overseas costs the military hundreds of thousands of dollars annually — during the Iraq War, for every $1,000,000 sent to pay soldiers in Iraq, it cost $60,000 in security, logistics, and support fees.^[6] It also eliminates the need for the World War II practice of producing the Military Payment Certificate. The use of a cashless economy at military stores reduces transaction times, freeing personnel from tasks like stamping money orders or counting coins — during 9 months of the Iraq War, this saved approximately 5000 hours of processing time for financial personnel.^[6][7] It also prevents counterfeiting.

Since the initial adoption of the EagleCash system, it has been augmented by ATM-like kiosks which allow soldiers to add funds to the card without visiting the base's finance office.^[5] Originally, this requirement caused long lines to refill cards, reducing the utility of the system.^[2] The conversion to the kiosk system, developed by NCR Corporation, remedied these problems and increased the ability of the system to provide easy cash for soldiers away from home — "something we often take for granted, but for soldiers deployed on foreign land, it has always been a challenge".^[2] To date, 3.2 million EagleCash and EZpay cards have been issued and used to process 16.5 million electronic transactions valued at over $3.6 billion."^[7]

See also[link]

• Medium of exchange
• Electronic money

References[link]

External links[link]

• Common questions about Eagle Cash — United States Department of the Treasury
• Eagle Cash enrollment form (pdf)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2011)

DJ EZ (pronounced E-Zed) is a DJ from Tottenham, North London, specialising in UK garage music. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest DJs ever to grace the UK garage scene.^{[citation needed]}

Biography[link]

In 1989, at the age of 15, EZ (known at the time as Easy O) started his radio career on a pirate radio station called Dance 93FM playing House music, where he remained for 4 years. In early 1994, EZ set up his own pirate radio station based in Tottenham called Dimension FM, playing mostly Hardcore dance music, Rave music and House music. Dimension FM didn't last long due to being closed down by the authorities. EZ then landed himself a 4 hour Saturday and Sunday morning show from 8.00 am to 12.00 pm on another pirate station - Freek 101.8 FM (it was at this time that he changed his name from Easy O to EZ). As EZ started getting more well known he was given extra show time and was also made a member of the station's management team. DJ EZ then started his own weekly club night called Club Z at the Gas Club in central London. DJ bookings for EZ started to soar and he was playing an average of 4 clubs a night every weekend.

DJ EZ on Kiss 100[link]

EZ's first time on commercial radio was as a guest on high profile Kiss 100 DJ Steve Jackson's breakfast show (Morning Glory) and house DJs Bobby & Steve's show. The guest appearances became more and more frequent and EZ was offered the chance to stand in for Tuff Jam on a few occasions when they were not able to attend to perform their 2 hour show.

In November 1999, Kiss 100 offered EZ a permanent show on Tuesday mornings from 2.00 am to 4.00 am. Due to its success the show was moved to a Friday night (Saturday morning) slot from midnight to 2.00 am, directly after Bobby & Steve's show.

In 2000, after coming ninth place in a Kiss 100 top DJ of the year poll, DJ EZ was given a primetime show on Saturday nights from 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm, called 'Saturday Satisfaction', and another show on Friday nights from 10.00 pm to 11.00 pm, called 'The Hour of Power'.

In 2002, his Saturday show changed to the earlier time of 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm.

In 2004, he won awards for 'Best DJ', 'Best Old Skool DJ' and 'Best Radio Show' at the People's Choice Music Awards in London.^[1]

DJ EZ currently hosts a popular UK Garage radio show called Destination Weekend on London's Kiss 100 every Friday night from 10pm. He does a 2 hour show packed with old skool classics and the latest tunes from the UK garage world and featuring occasional special guests. With him always is his sidekick Winston.

As of Friday 4 September 2009 the Destination Weekend show was expanded to air across the entire Kiss network. This includes South Wales and South West England, covered by Kiss 101 and the East of England, covered by Kiss 105.

From 8 March 2008 until November 1, 2008, DJ EZ hosted a second Kiss radio show titled 'The Bassline Mix'. This was broadcast on Saturday nights from 10.00 pm to 11.00 pm across the Kiss Network (Kiss 100, Kiss 101 and Kiss 105-108). The show featured UK Garage music and Bassline anthems mixed non-stop by EZ.

Pure Garage CDs[link]

In January 2000, Warner Music chose DJ EZ to mix Pure Garage, a new garage compilation CD. Pure Garage went on to receive platinum record sales and peaked at number two in the UK national compilation chart. This led to a series of albums mixed by DJ EZ.^[2][3] The Pure Garage series is the most acknowledged and best selling UK Garage compilation series to date. As of September 2007, the Pure Garage series had sold over 1.7 million records.

• Pure Garage (2CD) - Released: 31 January 2000
• Pure Garage II (2CD) - Released: 3 July 2000
• Pure Garage III (2CD) - Released: 13 November 2000
• Pure Garage IV (2CD) - Released: 5 March 2001
• Pure Garage V (2CD) - Released: 29 October 2001
• Pure Garage Presents Bass Breaks & Beats (2CD) - Released: 3 December 2001
• Pure Garage Platinum The Very Best of... (3CD) - Released: 9 December 2002
• Bass Breaks & Beats 2003 (2CD) - Released: 30 December 2002
• Pure Garage Classics (3CD) - Released: 24 November 2003
• Pure Garage Presents Four to the Floor (2CD) - Released: 29 December 2003
• Pure Garage Presents The Main Room Sessions (3CD) - Released: 16 May 2005
• Pure Garage Rewind Back to the Old Skool (4CD) - Released: 3 December 2007
• Pure Garage Presents Pure Bassline (3CD) - Released: 30 June 2008

Ministry of Sound CDs[link]

On 16 May 2009, EZ announced on his Kiss radio show that his next UK garage compilation CD will be released by Ministry of Sound on 15 June 2009. It was called Ministry of Sound Presents DJ EZ - The Essential Garage Collection and contained over 50 tracks on 3 CDs.

References[link]

External links[link]

• DJ EZ's official website
• DJ EZ on Kiss 100 website