Paper Social Security Checks Are Ending — and the 2027 COLA Is Still a Guess
Fewer than 300,000 people still get their benefit in the mail. If you're one of them, here's what to do — and why you should ignore every 2027 raise figure you've been shown.
Let's start with the fear, because it's the reason most people are reading this.
No, your benefits are not being cut off. Nothing we found in any official document from the Social Security Administration or the Treasury says that people who haven't switched to direct deposit will stop being paid. What's ending is the paper check as the government's default way of paying you. That is a real change, and it has a deadline that has already passed, but it is not the same thing as losing your money.
What the government actually ordered
Executive Order 14247, signed in March 2025, runs to a single sentence on this point: "Effective September 30, 2025, and to the extent permitted by law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cease issuing paper checks."
Social Security told advocacy groups the same thing that September, and added that it would no longer offer a temporary check option to people filing new claims. In a blog post this June, the agency said it "plans to complete the full transition to electronic payments for all beneficiaries this year."
The reasons given are cost and theft. Treasury says a printed check costs about $3.07 to issue, roughly twenty times an electronic payment, and the order cites more than $657 million spent on the machinery of physical payments in a single fiscal year. It also states that Treasury checks are "16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered than an electronic funds transfer."
That 16-times number gets repeated everywhere as though it came out of a study. It didn't. It comes from the executive order itself, which cites no research, no sample and no time period behind it. It may well be true. It is an assertion, and we'd rather you hear it as one.
The number nearly everyone is quoting wrong
You'll read that 390,000 people, or half a million, still get paper checks. Social Security's own tables say otherwise.
| Program | Paper checks | Direct deposit | Share electronic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Security (OASDI), June 2026 | 283,290 | 70,380,180 | 99.6% |
| Supplemental Security Income (SSI), March 2026 | 134,881 | 7,287,501 | 98.2% |
Social Security's own June blog post, for what it's worth, gives no number at all. The figures floating around in aggregated coverage appear to be stale, unsourced, or both. The table above is the agency's own count.
What to do, depending on where you stand
Already on direct deposit? Do nothing. Treasury says more than 95% of federal payments are already electronic, and if you're in that group this whole story is somebody else's problem.
Want to switch? Sign in to your my Social Security account and add your bank details, or ask your bank to send the information over for you. If you'd rather do it by phone, the number is 1-800-772-1213.
Don't have a bank account? This is what the Direct Express card was built for. It's a prepaid debit card that receives the payment directly — 1-800-333-1795, or usdirectexpress.com. Treasury's own line is 1-800-967-6857, weekdays from 9 to 7 Eastern. Direct deposit can also go to certain prepaid cards and mobile apps, as long as they have a routing and account number.
Genuinely can't go electronic? The waiver is real, and you are allowed to ask for it. Treasury grants one where electronic payment would be a hardship because of a mental impairment, or because you live somewhere remote enough that the infrastructure isn't there. There are two official phone numbers in circulation for this, which is unhelpful of them, but both are legitimate: 1-855-290-1545 is the one Treasury publishes, and 1-877-874-6347 is the one in Social Security's own letter to advocates.
One claim we found in coverage and could not verify anywhere: that Social Security will automatically enroll people in a prepaid card if they don't switch. No SSA or Treasury document we could find says that. Don't act on it.
Now, about next year's raise
Here is the only official number: the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment was 2.8%.
And here is the honest answer about 2027. Nobody knows. Not the analysts, not the advocacy groups, and not Social Security either, because the figure hasn't been calculated yet and cannot be. The COLA is worked out from inflation data for July, August and September, and July's data doesn't get published until August. The announcement lands in October, the way it does every year.
Which means every 2027 figure you've seen is somebody's estimate. Two are worth knowing, because they're the ones getting quoted:
The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group, is currently projecting 3.8%. Mary Johnson, an independent policy analyst who used to work there, puts it at 4.7%. That's a wide gap between two serious people, which tells you something about how firm any of this is in July.
"A 3.8 percent COLA might sound like a lot compared to last year's 2.8 percent, but it won't be enough to make up the difference." — Shannon Benton, Executive Director, The Senior Citizens League
Medicare is the same story. The standard Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90, and that is a real, announced number. The $209.50 you'll see for 2027 is a projection out of the Medicare Trustees Report, not a rate anyone has set. CMS announces the actual figure in November. The higher numbers going around, in the $216 to $219 range, come from private forecasters whose math we could not check.
What This Means for You
If you still get a paper check: the deadline already went by, and Social Security says it's finishing the job this year. There's no future date to wait for. Switching is one phone call. If you have no bank account, Direct Express exists for exactly your situation, and if you truly can't go electronic at all, the waiver is real and you're entitled to ask for it.
If you're building next year's budget: don't build it on a COLA number. Nobody has one yet, and won't until October. The same goes for your 2027 Medicare premium, which isn't set until November. Anyone quoting you a precise figure today is guessing, however confidently they say it.
Sources
- Executive Order 14247, "Modernizing Payments To and From America's Bank Account," March 25, 2025
- Social Security Administration, "Social Security Transitions to Electronic Payments," Sept. 10, 2025
- Social Security Administration blog, "Social Security to Fully Transition to Electronic Payments," June 2, 2026
- SSA Direct Deposit & Check Statistics — OASDI (June 2026) and SSI (March 2026)
- U.S. Treasury / MyMoney.gov, Executive Order 14247 Frequently Asked Questions (waiver eligibility, Direct Express, scam warning)
- SSA, Cost-of-Living Adjustment Information for 2026 (2.8%)
- The Senior Citizens League, 2027 COLA projection, June 10, 2026 (advocacy group projection, not official)
- 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, via MOAA, June 17, 2026 (2027 Part B projection, not a rate)
Disclaimer: This article is news and general information only. It is not financial, legal, or benefits advice. For decisions about your own benefits, contact the Social Security Administration directly at 1-800-772-1213 or ssa.gov.