On June 17, 2010, the U.S. Treasury issued a proposed rule to require that all payments to claimants whose claims for disability benefits are filed on or after March 1, 2011 be paid by direct deposit, thereby eliminating paper checks.
Many claimants have chosen already to receive their payments by direct deposit. For those who have chosen this option, direct deposit would continue.
Under the proposed rule, individuals who have not chosen to do direct deposit of their payments to an account at a financial institution would be enrolled in the Direct Express® Debit MasterCard® card program, a prepaid card program established pursuant to terms and conditions approved by Financial Management Services.
Beginning on March 1, 2013, all recipients of Federal benefit, which includes Social Security Disability benefits, would receive their payments by direct deposit, either to a bank account or to a Direct Express® card account.
To submit a comment, go to www.regulations.gov, docket FISCAL-FMS-2009-0003.