Sep 1, 2010

Early Delivery Of Checks To Some On East Coast

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that benefit checks are being delivered to some Atlantic coast residents on Thursday, September 2nd, before the arrival of Hurricane Earl and ahead of the regular September 3rd payment date. About 737,000 beneficiaries in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. are affected by this early check delivery.

"Delivering checks early to these residents eliminates one concern beneficiaries might have as they prepare for the storm,” Commissioner Astrue said. “As beneficiaries take steps to ensure their own safety, this is one step we can take to help them. They should also be aware that Direct Deposit is a more secure and convenient way to receive payments, particularly when natural disasters strike."

Social Security worked closely with the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of the Treasury to make the early delivery of checks possible. Beneficiaries living in areas with the following first three digits in their zip codes will receive early delivery.

State

3-Digit ZIP Code
Prefix

City

North Carolina

270 – thru – 289
and 297

Greensboro, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Kingston, Hickory, and Asheville

South Carolina

290 – thru – 296

Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, and Florence

Maryland

206 – thru – 212, 214 – thru – 219, and 267

Linthicum, Baltimore, Cumberland, Eastern Shore, and Frederick

Washington, DC

200, 202 – thru - 205

Washington DC

Virginia

220 – thru – 225, 228 – thru – 239, and 244

Richmond, Culpeper, Norfolk, and Farmville

Pennsylvania

189 – thru – 194

Philadelphia and Southeastern PA

Delaware

197 – thru – 199

Wilmington

New Jersey

070 – thru – 074, 076 – thru – 078 and 080 – thru – 088

DV Daniels, NNJ Metro, South Jersey, Newark, Trenton, Monmouth and Kilmer

New York

100 – thru – 104, 110 – thru – 114, and 116,
115, 117, and 119

Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and
Western Nassau

Massachusetts

021 – thru – 026

Brockton, Boston, Northwest Boston, and Cape Cod

Rhode Island

027 – thru – 029

Providence


The Department of the Treasury, through the Federal Reserve, has requested that financial institutions in the affected areas honor the paper checks.

From the viewpoint of someone who lives in North Carolina (although not on the coast), this seems like an overabundance of caution. We could easily have two or three other hurricanes traveling up the East coast before the end of this hurricane season, indeed before the end of the month. In this case, the checks are to be delivered on the same day the hurricane is supposed to be skirting (we hope) the NC coast!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Too bad mandatory direct deposit isn't in place now. This wouldn't be necessary.