Getting Social Security, VA or other federal benefits by paper check? Not anymore. You must switch to electronic payments. It’s the law! The US Department of the Treasury is requiring recipients to switch to either a direct deposit account or a Direct Express MasterCard card (a prepaid debit card). If you don’t comply, the Treasury Department will likely send you the latter. (Automatic waivers are granted to those born on or before May 1, 1921.)
The US Treasury has delivered federal benefit payments electronically for over 35 years. The final rule (December 2010) to phase out paper checks will save Treasury (and American taxpayers) $1 billion over 10 years. US Treasurer Rosie Rios says “It costs 92 cents more to issue a payment by paper check than by direct deposit.” And, the department claims that “beneficiaries are 125 times more likely to have a problem with a paper check than with an electronic payment.”
