Direct Express cardholders are moving to a new bank. Fifth Third Bank is replacing Comerica Bank as the financial agent for the prepaid card that many people use to receive Social Security and other federal benefits, and each cardholder gets a new Fifth Third card. Direct Express says the new card has to be set up with a four-digit PIN before it works, and the old card stays usable until the new one arrives.
What Direct Express says to do
The Direct Express website says that “if you already have a card from Comerica, you can keep using it until you receive your new Fifth Third card.” Once the new card is in hand, the cardholder activates it through the Direct Express app, the website, or the number on the back of the card, and has to set a four-digit PIN to complete setup. Comerica cardholders can keep using their current app until further notice.
Direct Express has not published a date when old Comerica cards stop working, so the new card shows up on its own schedule. A cardholder who has not yet received one does not need to do anything except keep using the card in the wallet.
What does a cardholder have to do when the new card shows up, and will the next benefit payment still land? The page says federal benefits are loaded to the account on each payment day, and it describes no other change to deposits. The job is to activate the new card and choose the PIN, and to keep using the old one until then.
A card switch is one more time a cardholder needs to know exactly which day the deposit is due. The Social Security Check Protection Kit includes the 2026 payment calendar, so a cardholder can line up the expected deposit date against the day the new Fifth Third card arrives.
Match a Direct Express deposit day to the Check Protection Kit’s 2026 calendar →
Scam warning for the switch
A change of card issuer is a favorite moment for impostors. Direct Express says it “will never ask for your card number, password, PIN, or security code.” It also tells cardholders to be wary of emails or texts asking them to “verify” or “re-submit” information through a link, and to contact Direct Express directly instead. The PIN is something the cardholder sets alone, in the app, on the website or by calling the number printed on the back of the card, never by handing it to a caller.
Any message that asks for a card number or PIN fails that test.
Why Direct Express matters for benefit payments
The Social Security Administration says in a June 2026 post that it is completing the transition to electronic payments in 2026. The agency says a paper check costs $3.07 to send and is 16 times as likely to be lost, and it points people who want a waiver to Treasury at 1-877-874-6347. Treasury’s Fiscal Service says federal benefit payments must be paid electronically, with waivers handled under 31 CFR Part 208. Treasury’s announcement of the September 30, 2025 paper-check cutoff laid out the options for people without bank accounts.
With paper checks being phased out, a card change is a change to how the benefit itself arrives, which is why the sequence of steps below matters.
The order of steps when the Fifth Third card arrives
The free route is the Direct Express site and the number on the back of the card. First, keep using the Comerica card until the new one is physically in hand. Second, when the Fifth Third card arrives, activate it through the app, the website or the phone number on the card, and set the four-digit PIN to finish setup. Pick a PIN that is not a birthdate or a repeated digit, and do not write it on the card.
Third, confirm the next deposit shows up on the new account on its normal payment day. If it does not, call the number on the back of the card. Keep the envelope or letter the card came in until the first deposit has posted, and keep a note of the date you activated it.
Fourth, if a message asks for the card number or PIN, do not reply. Direct Express says it never asks for either. The Direct Express site is the place to confirm the switch and the PIN rule.
A new Direct Express card should not cost you a deposit
The move to Fifth Third Bank comes with a new card and a new four-digit PIN, and a payment that looks late during the switch is a stressful thing to sort out alone. The Social Security Check Protection Kit carries the 2026 payment calendar, plus a first-24-hours plan for a late or missing payment.
Keep the Check Protection Kit’s payment calendar beside the new Fifth Third card →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
