Federal benefit checks going electronic in 2013

Published 11:00 pm Saturday, May 26, 2012

Recipients of federal benefits — chiefly Social Security and veterans benefits — must arrange to have their money deposited electronically by March 1.

Vicksburg nonprofits say now is the time to get the word out.

“We’re trying to cover all areas that we can to help us,” said Barbara Tolliver, executive director of the United Way of West Central Mississippi. “It’s going to affect a lot of people — the homebound elderly, the mentally challenged. The goal is going to be educating people.”

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The U.S. Treasury Department’s Go Direct public relations push on the issue is being implemented locally by the United Way and the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce. More than 60 organizations, churches, banks and officials will meet at United Way offices on South Street at 9 a.m., June 6.

All who apply for federal benefits for the first time must choose an electronic payment option when they sign up. Those who want money directed to a bank or credit union account must have the financial institution’s routing number, account type and account number at the time they sign up for benefits. People who don’t have a bank or credit union account may visit www.godirect.org to sign up for a “direct express” debit card on which payments may be loaded.

Many of the 200 or so seniors who receive services from Community Council of Warren County already have bank accounts, president and CEO Alene Thornton said. Still, the organization tries to stay busy and is likely to see seniors who haven’t heard of the pending changes.

“I expect to find many who don’t know,” Thornton said.

Eliminating paper checks will save taxpayers $1 billion over the next 10 years, the U.S. Treasury Department said in April. The department had ruled in December 2010 to phase out paper checks for federal benefit payments to accelerate electronic payments. Electronic payments made up more than 75 percent of non-cash payments nationwide, and cut problems. More than 540,000 Social Security and Supplemental Security Income paper checks were reported lost or stolen last year, the department said.