By
Mary Cunningham
Mary Cunningham
Reporter, MoneyWatch
Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.
Updated on: September 25, 2025 / 1:53 PM EDT
/ CBS News
After 85 years of sending out paper checks to retirees, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is transitioning to electronic payments in what it says is an effort to modernize its services and improve efficiency.
Starting Sept. 30, the SSA will no longer issue paper checks to its nearly 70 million recipients, instead sending benefits through either direct deposit or a prepaid debit card.
“We have been communicating directly with beneficiaries since July 1, and we have worked diligently to ensure that the less than one percent of individuals who receive paper checks have ample time to enroll in direct deposit or receive Direct Express cards,” a Social Security spokesperson told CBS News in an email on Tuesday.
“By moving to electronic payments exclusively, we aim to improve efficiency, security, and ensure beneficiaries receive their monthly benefits promptly,” they added.
The Social Security Administration has emphasized that electronic payments provide a safer and more secure way to receive benefits compared with paper checks, which the agency says are 16 times more likely to be lost or stolen. Eliminating paper checks is also a cost-saving measure: Checks cost 50 cents each, compared with 15 cents for an electronic funds transfer.
In an online post, the SSA said it was sending notices to people who receive paper checks to alert them of the change. The agency encouraged paper check recipients to switch to the new payment options before the deadline to ensure they receive their benefits in a timely fashion.
The Social Security spokesperson declined to comment on how people were contacted or on the current status of its outreach.
Exceptions for some paper checks
While the agency is pulling away from paper checks, there are some exceptions. The spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that the agency will continue to issue paper checks to people who have no other way to receive payments, echoing what it told CBS News in July after it announced the move to electronic payments.
President Trump set the shift away from paper checks in motion with a March executive order that mandated all federal payments be digitized. Paper-based checks, the White House said at the time, impose “unnecessary costs; delays; and risks of fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, as well as advocates for seniors have noted that the roughly 600,000 people who rely on the SSA’s original payment system often need paper checks because they’re unable to receive electronic deposits.
That includes people who are “unbanked,” or those who lack access to traditional bank accounts. According to an August report from Bankrate, the unbanked represent 4.6% of the U.S. population, and tend to rely more on check-cashing services and other alternative forms of payment to manage their finances.
While the Social Security Act was signed into law in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it wasn’t until 1940 that the agency began sending paper checks to retired workers and their dependents as well as to survivors of deceased insured workers. The first recipient of the monthly benefit was a woman named Ida M. Fuller.
A Vermont native, Fuller worked as a teacher before becoming a legal secretary. After filing her retirement claim in 1939, she stopped by the Social Security office in Rutland, Vermont, the town where she once attended school, to inquire about her benefits. She had paid into the relatively new program for about three years, according to the Social Security Administration.
“It wasn’t that I expected anything, mind you, but I knew I’d been paying for something called Social Security and I wanted to ask the people in Rutland about it,” she said.
Fuller’s first monthly check, issued on January 31, 1940, was for $22.54.
Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.
The post Social Security to shift to fully electronic payments starting Sept. 30 appeared first on CBS News.
