From the
Salt Lake Tribune:
Nearly 19,000 elderly Utahns, and millions more
across the country, are being pushed into the digital banking world by
the federal government.
Starting March 1, the U.S. Department of the
Treasury plans to stop mailing out most paper Social Security checks.
Instead, it will require recipients to switch to an electronic form of
payment: either direct deposit into their bank account or onto a
Treasury-issued debit card. ...
The switch away from mailbox delivery has others just plain upset.
Michigan resident Mike Clement told the
McClatchy Newspapers service that he and his elderly mother were
"hopping mad" that she was being forced to switch to electronic payment.
"It really should be a matter of personal
choice," Clement said. "Unfortunately, the feds seem not to care a whit
about personal preference."
There have been articles like this in papers all over the country. To the best of my knowledge, nothing is changing on March 1. This appears to be nothing more than the latest and most strident effort to convince recipients of Social Security checks to switch to direct deposit. Those who receive checks now will continue to receive them after March 1. Those who start receiving Social Security benefits in the future will face the now familiar pressure to receive the benefits in an electronic form but if they resist hard enough they can still receive a check.
6 comments:
Actually, that isn't correct. If you don't meet an exception to universal direct deposit, Treasury can (and will) automatically enroll you in Direct Express.
They've already stated that they will make no special exceptions for folks confined to nursing homes - you can't get any stricter than that.
And if SSA doesn't have your current address, which is extremely common with SSI recipients, you won't get the Direct Express packet in the mail--thus, no check for you.
I searched both the SSA website and the U.S. Treasury website--could find no FAQ nor other info stating what actually happens if one has not signed up for direct deposit or direct Express by 03/01/2013. This could be interesting.
For everyone's information:
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=feef957466f187efc9568848d081f741&rgn=div5&view=text&node=31:2.1.1.1.7&idno=31
Anything that gets old folks comfortable using debit cards gets my vote. I know I'm going to sound like a jerk here but it kills me to stand behind elderly folks who still use cash or checks. There is no good reason I can think of to keep using checks but old folks just don't like to change. There, I said it.
I'm not quite old yet -- advanced age is not as old as it used to seem -- but checks serve a very useful purpose to record financial transactions.
As for what might happen for those who have not made an affirmative choice as of March, will SSA just mail a debit card to the last known address? Anyone work for SSA in that area?
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