Social security signals potential performance disorders this autumn for those who still receive paper tests

The social security management warns the beneficiaries that those who receive their services through paper controls could see their payments disturbed if the agency implemented a deadline of Trump Administration to remove the Federal Government from paper checks by September 30th.

While 99% of the SSA benefits use a direct deposit to receive their services, according to agency data, more than half a million people receive paper controls.

Now the SSA is trying to move the beneficiaries, receive paper controls in order to direct the deposit or direct, a prepaid debit card used to provide federal services. It also presses new applicants for digital payment options.

People who want checks must call the finance department itself and apply for a waiver. Those who do not receive such a waiver by the end of September can “a disruption to the timely payment delief”, even if their application application is pending according to an internal policy document on July 2.

Asked about details whether people would be stopped if they do not change a digital payment option -and at what time this would happen -an SSA press officer said that the agency “is working to help and help to switch to electronic payment options”.

SSA plans to send direct mailings to people who are currently receiving checks and referred to with reference to people NEXTGOV/FCW to the Ministry of Finance for further details such as a enforcement time bar. The Ministry of Finance did not respond to inquiries about comments.

The guideline could lead to a flood of people with questions about missing checks to come to the agency if some of the 521,644 people who receive such paper payments do not submit a waiver before the end of September, said an SSA employee who was not entitled to speak in the file.

The new guideline of the SSA also eliminates the requirements for the external offices to lead a list of local financial institutions.

The changes follow a implementation regulation in March, in which the Ministry of Finance set up a deadline on September 30 to end the exhibition of paper checks and to postpone payments to direct deposit. Debit and credit cards; and digital wallets. It only has limited exceptions, even for people without access to banking services.

Paper controls are also increased with costs for the government and the risk of fraud that has increased in recent years as the use of checks in the decline of the check. This is heated in particular by post theft, in which fraudsters, for example, put checks in residential areas.

“Removing the paper cheek from the payment system leads to a cheaper, faster and safer payment system,” said American Bankers Association in a public comment that was presented in the finance department in the last month.

The Federal Government has been trying to move away from checks since 2011, and the requirements for federal payments such as services or salaries are already electronically in the law.

Nevertheless, the government could face challenges because it implemented against a six -month time frame in the executive order.

There will be just over eleven weeks by the end of September. And SSA is not the only agency that has to implement new requirements for thousands of paper control recipients: Last year, 7 million people received their tax refunds from paper controls or prepaid debit cards in contrast to direct deposit.

The changes to the guidelines will affect some more than others, including those without bank accounts.

According to the Federal Reserve, six percent of American adults became unexplored in 2023, and this rate is higher in adults with low incomes as well as younger people, black and Hispanic adults and people with disabilities.

Rural and tribal communities that are missing internet access and far away from bank branches can be the changes, as can the older beneficiaries.

“It is not an exaggeration that the majority of our citizens will receive critical payments by check,” wrote the coalition of large tribes, which represents over 50 tribes with large land bases, in a comment to the finance ministry last month.

“This transition poses significant challenges for tribal communities,” they wrote, citing limited bank infrastructure and inadequate broadband access within the Indian country.

The options for people with no -strand are also not without their defects. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the Direct Express administrator last year because he “systematically failed” its 3.4 million card holders with intentionally bad customer service and junk fees. CFPB dropped the lawsuit in April, and the Ministry of Finance is moving to a new administrator.

The loss of thousands of SSA employees could affect the ability to implement the agency, as well as the latest changes in how people can change their direct deposit information, which experts say that millions will lead to help with stricter identity examination requirements.

“There are serious implementation questions, especially in view of the problems you have at SSA” NEXTGOV/FCW.

Before that, people who insisted on paper controls would get them from SSA, and the finance department would proactively turn them over the waiver.

The SSA employee announced that the advance on digital payments could particularly be processed for claims submitted online NEXTGOV/FCW.

SSA directs the employees to obtain claims that do not contain any direct deposit information for 30 days, while the agency calls them and sends a letter to them via direct deposit requirements before sending services via checks if the applicant is not contacted with SSA.

“We do not have the staff to call everyone, so most people will find out by letter,” said the SSA employee. “There is no doubt that this will cause delays to many people.”