Interesting information but what does it mean?
Bank accounts for folks that don’t have bank accounts or who don’t want the IRS to have their bank account information (a legitimate concern).
The feds have my bank account information because I pay them every April. But for folks that never pay directly, and only get refunds of their over-withholding and don’t provide a bank account number, they frequently end up with a debit card representing a bank account that they don’t realize has been set up for them.
Or, when you buy one of those re-chargeable debit cards at Walmart, etc, the cashier is really a teller setting up a bank account for you.
(Hint - if you are trying to collect money from someone that doesn’t appear to have a bank account, don’t forget to try garnishing accounts at Meta and Green Dot and perhaps some of the other issuers - BB&T is getting into the market, for example.
I tried to answer your question yesterday, but I didn’t get to the “why” which you may already know. It’s another step toward doing away with cash, and making all transactions trackable.