Social Security Will Stop Offering Californians This Service In 2025. What To Know

The Social Security Administration is eliminating a decades-old service this year, changing the way hundreds of thousands of retirees receive their benefits each month.

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to do away with paper checks and require the Treasury Department to make payments electronically.

According to the order, "Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account," maintaining the "physical infrastructure and specialized technology" for digitizing paper checks and records cost taxpayers over $657 million in 2024 alone.

Trump's order also noted that government issued checks are 16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable or altered than an electronic funds transfer.

“My top priority is to turn the Social Security Administration into a model of excellence — one that operates at peak efficiency,” Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano wrote in a statement.

The order, which takes effect Sept. 30., will likely save the government money, but it could affect the most vulnerable populations, such as elderly retirees over 80, unhoused beneficiaries and people who lack bank accounts or internet access, Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare analyst told Market Watch.

Currently, there are around 494,000 retirees who still receive paper Social Security checks according to a Social Security Administration report from June. Large swaths of those beneficiaries are over the age of 80, people in rural locations without internet or those with disabilities, according to Market Watch.

“A significant portion of the oldest old — over 80 and 90 — are not internet-savvy or connected. They are also more likely to be isolated without a younger adult to help them with their finances,” Teresa Ghilarducci, an economist and professor at the New School for Social Research, told Market Watch.

In 2023, 4.2 percent of households across the nation did not have a bank account, according to Market Watch, which cited the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

“Though no one will probably lose benefits, it might [lead] to a delay in getting benefits. For people who depend upon Social Security for most of their income, there could be significant levels of anxiety about paying bills,” Ghilarducci said.

The news comes as a government report revealed that the combined reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) trust funds are now expected to run dry in 2034 — one year earlier than last year’s projection.

At that point, the system would only be able to pay 81 percent of scheduled benefits, unless Congress acts.

The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund on its own is still expected to be depleted in 2033, the same as last year, with 77 percent of benefits payable at that time.

This ongoing imbalance raises significant concerns for the roughly 70 million Americans expected to receive Social Security benefits next year and the 185 million workers currently paying into the system.

"Congress must act to protect and strengthen the Social Security that Americans have earned and paid into throughout their working lives," said Mycelia Minter-Jordan, CEO of AARP, in a statement Wednesday. "More than 69 million Americans rely on Social Security today and as America's population ages, the stability of this vital program only becomes more important."

Social Security’s long-term financial outlook is also worsening. The actuarial deficit over the next 75 years has grown to 3.82 percent of taxable payroll, up from 3.50 percent in last year’s estimate, according to the report.

READ MORE: Social Security, Medicare Funds May Dwindle In Less Than A Decade, Report Finds