Another EO: Dept Of Treasury To Phase Out Paper Checks; Funds Delivery Electronic Only

[Susannah]

There's been a flurry of executive orders today (Tuesday), some already raising the ire of the Left and so-called watchdog groups who don't want their grifts to go away.

This Executive Order, Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account, appears to be passing under the radar; or maybe everyone is just too weary to care.

Here's the skinny:

Effective September 30, 2025, the federal government will no longer issue paper checks for any disbursements, including Social Security and other benefits, vendor payments, or IRS refunds. All agencies and executive departments must transition to a form of electronic funds transfer to make and receive payments.

The Trump administration plans a comprehensive public awareness campaign to inform the American public about this shift, what options are available to them, and will offer guidance on how to set up digital payments. According to the White House fact sheet, exceptions will be made for those who do not have access to a bank or a means to receive electronic payments, as well as certain emergency payments, certain law enforcement activities, and other special cases that qualify for this exception.

Another Trump EO: Dept. of Treasury to Phase Out Paper Checks; All Funds Delivery Will Be Electronic Only

There's been a flurry of executive orders today (Tuesday), some already raising the ire of the Left

redstate.com

Interestingly enough, I'm seeing reactions a lot of fast and furious reactions in comments under this news story. I'm a little surprised and it's not just the left.

What do you think?

Those of you in other countries how are government payments delivered there? Do you get checks in the mail or only electronic delivery to a bank account?

 

[Faye]

There's been a flurry of executive orders today (Tuesday), some already raising the ire of the Left and so-called watchdog groups who don't want their grifts to go away.

This Executive Order, Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account, appears to be passing under the radar; or maybe everyone is just too weary to care.

Here's the skinny:

Effective September 30, 2025, the federal government will no longer issue paper checks for any disbursements, including Social Security and other benefits, vendor payments, or IRS refunds. All agencies and executive departments must transition to a form of electronic funds transfer to make and receive payments.

The Trump administration plans a comprehensive public awareness campaign to inform the American public about this shift, what options are available to them, and will offer guidance on how to set up digital payments. According to the White House fact sheet, exceptions will be made for those who do not have access to a bank or a means to receive electronic payments, as well as certain emergency payments, certain law enforcement activities, and other special cases that qualify for this exception.

Another Trump EO: Dept. of Treasury to Phase Out Paper Checks; All Funds Delivery Will Be Electronic Only

There's been a flurry of executive orders today (Tuesday), some already raising the ire of the Left

redstate.com

Interestingly enough, I'm seeing reactions a lot of fast and furious reactions in comments under this news story. I'm a little surprised and it's not just the left.

What do you think?

Those of you in other countries how are government payments delivered there? Do you get checks in the mail or only electronic delivery to a bank account?

The Trump admin is pushing this because it will stop a lot of fraud and be easier to find fraud. It will also save the taxpayers millions in processing. If one receives a paper check, they have to cash it somewhere. There are places that make big money cashing government checks. They know the checks are good, so no risk for them. These places are voicing the biggest opposition.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I can see both arguments. One might hope paper checks could remain an option, but at the same time that shouldn't be common either. Tough one. I suppose it's too late to ask to be paid in gold and silver.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I think that this is probably a good idea, @Susannah , and I think that most checks are already sent out electronically. The mail is definitely not reliable. Even before it became unreliable, there was always the possibility of a check being stolen out of the mailbox, so it has never really been secure.
A person does not have to have a bank account for an electronic deposit. My sister-in-law was on SSI before she passed away, and she had a card, like a debit card, and her SSI check just went on her card each month.

I have had my SS check sent to my bank ever since I started getting SS, and it has always worked great for me. I can tell online when it is pending and then when it is deposited, and usually get it a few days early that way.
Everything is moving away from paper, and I think that this will help the government be able to make the payments more secure and should also help stop fraud ; so I am all for this idea.

 

[Susannah]

I can see both arguments. One might hope paper checks could remain an option, but at the same time that shouldn't be common either. Tough one. I suppose it's too late to ask to be paid in gold and silver.

I was thinking gold dust. It hasn’t been all that long and there’s still gold in them thar mines, at least in this part of the country.

Personally, I have no problem with this in current government conditions. But, I think several concerns are at play. People fear government control and access to their accounts although surely most have had some kind of direct deposit. Some seniors are way behind the times and aren’t familiar at all with technology. Some have never had a credit card. Of course these people are in the minority. What surprised me about the reaction I saw was the numbers of people so set against it.

I do think there have been a lot of executive orders and many of them will be hard to enforce much less turn into actual laws. Several of these executive orders weren’t on my bingo card.

We’ve already had protests here about privatizing the post office. I’m for it but there are a lot of postal people available to carry signs.

Speaking of protests there was a protest and counter protest at the local Lexus dealer last weekend. The cool part of that was some counter protesters across the street with a giant American flag.

I think it’s going to be a long hot summer.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I've been getting my pension payments by direct deposit since 2011, and my pay before that was deposited to my checking account for years before that. So I'm not too concerned about these "changes."

I think we're in for years of weirdness. There is just too much money behind opposition to the current Administration's goals, and its focus is to try to sour people against them.

 

[Susannah]

It’s not surprising that all of us here are already fully plugged in to technology. I was trying to remember when all our personal banking went online and I think it was before 2010. I was working in a one employee business at the time and I had to ask several times to convince my employer to set up direct deposit.

But I know a person who still does not have and never has had a credit card, does no online banking. He writes checks and mails them just like we all did years ago.

I’m concerned that as the EOs add up each one seems to be adding more opponents. I hope Trump isn’t trying to do too much at once and piling up too much opposition.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

It seems to me that the automatic deposit will not affect people who still want to write checks. It just means that their pension will get into their account in a much safer and efficient way.
There are probably a lot of older people who still like to write paper checks, and as long as they have their bank account, they can still do everything the same as they have been doing, except that they no longer have to drive to the bank to deposit the check when it arrives.
If they want cash, they can write the check for enough over the purchase price to get cash back, which is what they are probably already doing if they do not use any kind of a credit or debit card.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

We still have lots of bank branches and ATMs around here. I don't write as many checks as I once did, but I still have checks for two accounts that I can use.

 

[Don Alaska]

It’s not surprising that all of us here are already fully plugged in to technology. I was trying to remember when all our personal banking went online and I think it was before 2010. I was working in a one employee business at the time and I had to ask several times to convince my employer to set up direct deposit.

But I know a person who still does not have and never has had a credit card, does no online banking. He writes checks and mails them just like we all did years ago.

I’m concerned that as the EOs add up each one seems to be adding more opponents. I hope Trump isn’t trying to do too much at once and piling up too much opposition.

I, too, know someone who has no cell phone, no computer, and I don't think she uses credit cards. She will soon not be able to live in today's society. She does have a checking account and uses checks.
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We still have lots of bank branches and ATMs around here. I don't write as many checks as I once did, but I still have checks for two accounts that I can use.

We write very few checks now unless we absolutely want a hard-copy type transaction.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I can see both arguments. One might hope paper checks could remain an option, but at the same time that shouldn't be common either. Tough one. I suppose it's too late to ask to be paid in gold and silver.

I'm not too sure what I think about this, although my daughter said their check was stolen and " whitewashed" first time I heard of such a crime.
I forgot who did or where but she no longer uses paper checks.
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I think that this is probably a good idea, @Susannah , and I think that most checks are already sent out electronically. The mail is definitely not reliable. Even before it became unreliable, there was always the possibility of a check being stolen out of the mailbox, so it has never really been secure.
A person does not have to have a bank account for an electronic deposit. My sister-in-law was on SSI before she passed away, and she had a card, like a debit card, and her SSI check just went on her card each month.

I have had my SS check sent to my bank ever since I started getting SS, and it has always worked great for me. I can tell online when it is pending and then when it is deposited, and usually get it a few days early that way.
Everything is moving away from paper, and I think that this will help the government be able to make the payments more secure and should also help stop fraud ; so I am all for this idea.

Our is also direct deposited and guess it's about time for a change.
Not like it is really all that new, since we used to trade in gold and silver. Or Barter.

 

[Susannah]

I'm not too sure what I think about this, although my daughter said their check was stolen and " whitewashed" first time I heard of such a crime.
I forgot who did or where but she no longer uses paper checks.
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Our is also direct deposited and guess it's about time for a change.
Not like it is really all that new, since we used to trade in gold and silver. Or Barter.

I had a friend who had a check whitewashed a few years ago. She was never able to figure out how the check was stolen but it was changed and used at WalMart to make a purchase. That was when you could still get a small amount of cash back at the checkout by adding the amount to your purchase. I recall that it took a long time and involvement of the police to ever get straightened out.

I had to order new checks last year and at the rate I write them I'm pretty sure I have a lifetime supply. My recurring bills are paid online so it's a rare thing to write a check. Even service people can take a CC on a portable device now.

Don, the person that I know with no CC doesn't have a cell phone either but he does have an old desktop computer. I don't know what he will do if it dies and he has to get used to a new one. It's as though time stops for some people. They learn a little bit and then refuse to go any further with technology.

The merging posts in this thread are interesting.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

There are pens you can buy for things like check-writing that deposit solid pigments that are quite hard to wash out. Most pens use dyes that can be bleached using various chemicals.

I bought these a while back:

Black Retractable Gel, 2 Pack with Medium Points, Uni-Ball 207 Signo Click Pens are Fraud Proof and the Best Office , Nursing , Business , School , and Bible Pens

 

[Don Alaska]

I suspect it is a way to eliminate sending checks to dead recipients. Direct deposits can be at least traced to bank accounts, but checks can be deposited by anyone. It prevents the theft of checks as well. There are several cases of large numbers of checks being cashed for dead SS recipients over years. There was a very famous case of a boarding house in Sacramento, California, where the owner of the boarding house solicited seniors on SS who were then killed and buried in the yard while the checks kept coming for years and supported the proprietor and her family in grand style for several decades before the fraud was uncovered. The only downside is that you have to have a bank account to receive Federal benefits.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I suspect it is a way to eliminate sending checks to dead recipients. Direct deposits can be at least traced to bank accounts, but checks can be deposited by anyone. It prevents the theft of checks as well. There are several cases of large numbers of checks being cashed for dead SS recipients over years. There was a very famous case of a boarding house in Sacramento, California, where the owner of the boarding house solicited seniors on SS who were then killed and buried in the yard while the checks kept coming for years and supported the proprietor and her family in grand style for several decades before the fraud was uncovered. The only downside is that you have to have a bank account to receive Federal benefits.

You do not have to have a bank account for some of the checks now. The government issues a card, similar to a debit card, and every month , the money goes onto that card. The card works just like a regular debit card, except the person using it does not need a special bank account.

 

[Don Alaska]

You do not have to have a bank account for some of the checks now. The government issues a card, similar to a debit card, and every month , the money goes onto that card. The card works just like a regular debit card, except the person using it does not need a special bank account.

I wouldn't want to lose that card

 

[Nancy Hart]

5.6 million households do not have a banking account (2023)
11.5 million U.S. households don’t have home internet, roughly half those don’t have a computer (2024)
Although 94% of seniors have a cellphone, only 79% have a smartphone (2024)

All these things are correlated with poverty.

"... [the White House] plans a comprehensive public awareness campaign to inform the American public about this shift, what options are available to them, and will offer guidance on how to set up digital payments. According to the White House fact sheet, exceptions will be made for those who do not have access to a bank or a means to receive electronic payments. "

^^^ It will be interesting to see how seriously they take this. By September? They must be joking.

Another "solution" in search of a "problem." Just declare the problem solved, and people may believe it.

References [1], [2], [3]

 

[Mary Stetler]

Lots of folks use the computers at the library.
I myself don't mind electronic deposit of my SS or tax refunds. (but it took a while for my comfort level to level) I like paper back up for my bills etc
My last check order took 10 days after shipping notification, though.
????
I was on pins and needles! Maybe that was the reason; to have people reconsider electronic deposit.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Supposedly, the Feds were going to phase out paper checks decades ago. But the problems outlined by Nancy are the brick in the door. They simply can't do that in all cases.

Congress failed to keep the Affordable Connectivity Program going so a lot of poorer Seniors lost their Internet access. Shooting down any possibility of their using PayPal or something similar for banking. However, low income people can now get a cell phone with Internet service though the Universal Lifeline Program.

The FCC during the Reagan administration established the Universal Service Fund. A tax on everyone’s phone bill funded the program, which enabled people to receive free or lower cost basic telephone service.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I suspect it is a way to eliminate sending checks to dead recipients. Direct deposits can be at least traced to bank accounts, but checks can be deposited by anyone. It prevents the theft of checks as well. There are several cases of large numbers of checks being cashed for dead SS recipients over years. There was a very famous case of a boarding house in Sacramento, California, where the owner of the boarding house solicited seniors on SS who were then killed and buried in the yard while the checks kept coming for years and supported the proprietor and her family in grand style for several decades before the fraud was uncovered. The only downside is that you have to have a bank account to receive Federal benefits.

Machines and their masters have been taking over for decades. Replacing human's jobs, including high tech surgeon's and other medical positions.
On a forum a couple decades ago we discussed this subject in depth. It was scary.
I don't think we should follow Muck idea of bringing in hundreds of thousands of high-tech engineers or students from India either. I feel it is dangerous to put non-citizens in control of our high technology.
This is a strange new world we live in, which will also be our children's future.
I think Musk is a very intelligent man, lets just hope he stays in his place.