The EagleCash program will be terminated by the end of fiscal year 2025. (Mark Orders-Woempner/U.S. Army)

The Army is discontinuing a cash card program that once processed billions of dollars in on-post transactions throughout the world, but which the service says is no longer cost-effective.

The EagleCash stored-value card will end by Sept. 30, saving the service $1.7 million annually, according to an Army statement Tuesday.

The Army introduced EagleCash in 1997 as an alternative to cash, debit cards and credit cards. At its high point in 2010, it processed $1.9 billion in transactions annually, mostly at Army and Air Force Exchange Service and concessionaire-run stores. Since then, use of the reloadable payment card has fallen by 92.6%.

The payment system, which links a user’s bank or credit union account to the card, has remained largely unchanged since the mid-2010s, while alternatives have become cheaper and more technologically advanced.

The Army will transition all functions using EagleCash to commercial payment methods and expects the changes to have minimal impact.