Treasury to phase out paper checks, citing cost and security

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Scripps News

Posted 1:10 PM, Sep 17, 2025


The Treasury Department will stop sending monthly paper checks after Sept. 30. This will impact those receiving Social Security benefits. This also means tax returns will no longer be sent via mail.

The Social Security Administration says fewer than 1% of Social Security recipients currently receive paper checks. Those individuals will need to opt in to direct deposit or a prepaid debit card option to continue receiving their benefits.

"We’re proactively sending notices to people who currently receive paper checks, to explain the upcoming change and highlight the benefits of switching to electronic payments," the agency said in a statement.

Each notice will include a flyer outlining how beneficiaries can sign up for electronic payment options. The agency says moving away from paper checks improves efficiency and reduces the risk of theft or delays. Paper checks are 16 times more likely to be lost or stolen than electronic payments, according to SSA.

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/treasury-to-phase-out-paper-checks-citing-cost-and-security

---

REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143497463

[Strelnikov_]

1. Proactively, as in two weeks before checks are cut off.

[CountAllVotes]

2. This also means tax returns will no longer be sent via mail.

Well, I realize not everyone needs one but I do.

Not everyone has a Smart phone, etc.

What about the visually impaired among us?

I guess we don't count do we?

[sl8]

7. I think that's a mistake by Scripps.

I think they conflated "tax refunds" with "tax returns". I've read a few articles and IRS pages about this and this is the only article I've seen that makes that claim about returns. They will stop accepting paper checks for payment, though.

The Treasury Department will stop sending monthly paper checks after Sept. 30. This will impact those receiving Social Security benefits. This also means tax returns will no longer be sent via mail.

[Blues Heron]

3. How is stopping them in two weeks phasing them out?

[BumRushDaShow]

4. They apparently sent out a notice back in July

(per the "REFERENCE" link)

[bucolic_frolic]

5. "tax returns will no longer be sent via mail. "

Could they make it any more ambiguous? Where do they get these journalists?

[Ford_Prefect]

6. Only a hop, skip, and a jump from Palantir deciding who gets paid and who doesn't. ...Or perhaps how much goes

directly to Trump, et al.

[riversedge]

8. So basically, the Feds just only gave less than a 2 week notice. whow

[tonekat]

9. It's NOT a effing business!

It's government, which is supposed to do for people what they can't do for themselves.

Any loss is a mere rounding error compared to say, the military.

Stop scrimping at the loss of convenience for some Americans who earned those payments.

[live love laugh]

10. Connecting bank accounts to the govt. for control is the intention.

Miller has already said they’re going to take people’s money.

[twodogsbarking]

11. Yeah, that makes sense. The internet is safe.