The U.S. Treasury Department says all federal benefit payments must now be paid electronically. That covers Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Veterans’ benefits, civil service retirement, military retirement and railroad retirement, according to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s direct deposit FAQ.
The rule is firm but not absolute. Treasury’s own site says electronic payment is required unless a waiver is available, and the White House order behind it carves out people who cannot reach banking services. For most beneficiaries that means a bank deposit or a prepaid card, not an envelope.
Which payments are covered, and since when
Treasury’s direct deposit page puts it bluntly: electronic payments are required, and recipients must get their money by direct deposit or through an electronically delivered payment to a Treasury-sponsored account, or obtain a waiver. The waiver rules sit in Fiscal Service’s regulation at 31 CFR Part 208.
The push began with Executive Order 14247, signed March 25, 2025. Under its text, starting September 30, 2025, the Treasury Secretary was to stop issuing paper checks for federal disbursements, subject to legal limits and exceptions. Fiscal Service’s news page carries the September 30, 2025 notice that most federal payments once made by paper check, Social Security benefits and Veterans’ benefits among them, were no longer being issued that way.
A year later, the practical effect is that anyone still waiting on a paper check, or about to lose the bank account that receives the deposit, needs another way to be paid. That is the question this rule raises for every household that depends on a monthly federal payment: where does the money go if the usual route breaks?
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Treasury’s stated reason is fraud. The ABC7 report quotes a Treasury statement from the end of May 2025 that paper checks are increasingly the front door for fraud, and it cites Social Security’s own cost figures of about 50 cents for a paper check versus under 15 cents for an electronic payment.
The two ways to get paid electronically
The first is direct deposit into a checking or savings account. Treasury’s FAQ says recipients can enroll at GoDirect.gov or by calling 1-800-333-1795 in English or 1-800-333-1792 in Spanish. Another route is to complete FS Form 1200 and mail it to the agency that pays the benefit.
The second is a card. For people without a bank account, Treasury says the benefit payment will be put on a card that can be used to buy items at stores and gas stations and on the internet, to pay bills and to withdraw cash. That is the Direct Express prepaid debit card, and the FAQ lists it alongside direct deposit as an enrollment choice.
Treasury also lists a phone line for either route, the Electronic Payment Solution Center at (877) 874-6347. Anyone who needs help opening an account is pointed to the FDIC’s GetBanked site.
Who can still get a paper check
Waivers exist, but they are narrow. A report by ABC7 New York, citing the GoDirect site, said waivers are granted only in rare circumstances: a mental impairment that makes electronic payment a hardship, living in a remote area without the needed infrastructure, or being age 90 or older. The same report gave a Treasury waiver line, 1-855-290-1545.
The executive order points the same way. Its exception covers individuals who do not have access to banking services or electronic payment systems, and it says qualifying people shall be provided alternative payment options. A Social Security spokesperson told ABC7 that where a beneficiary has no other means to receive payment, the agency will continue to issue paper checks.
The scale is small. The report put the number of people still on paper checks at about 500,000, or 0.8 percent of beneficiaries, at the time of the Social Security announcement in 2025.
Anyone who has been told a waiver might apply should not wait for a paper check to show up on its own. The same report says a waiver is requested by calling the Treasury waiver line or mailing in a form, so the first step is a call or a form, not a wait at the mailbox.
What happens when a bank account closes
Treasury’s general FAQ explains how to start or change an enrollment but does not spell out what happens to a deposit that bounces back from a closed account. That gap is where payments tend to go missing, and it is why the timing of a switch matters.
For anyone who gets paid onto a prepaid card, the FAQ gives a clear instruction: contact the prepaid provider, get the banking information, and give the paying agency the new instructions. The same logic applies to a person moving from one bank to another. The new account details go to the agency that pays the benefit before the old account is shut.
The cleanest approach is to line up the replacement first. That means a working account or card, the routing and account numbers in hand, and a call to the agency or Treasury enrollment line to confirm the change before the next payment date arrives.
What if the next federal deposit does not land?
A closed account, a card that was never activated or a switch that was not processed in time can leave a household without a payment on the day the rent is due. The longer the gap runs before anyone calls the right office, the longer the wait for the money.
The Social Security Check Protection Kit includes a first-24-hours plan for a late or missing payment, along with the 2026 payment calendar and the three SSA forms that stop or pause collection. It is written for Social Security recipients, so a household that gets another federal benefit will find the calendar and plan most useful for the payment it already knows.
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 15 Steps to Stop the Scams That Took $7.7 Billion From Seniors
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
