India, Oct. 7 -- The first round of Social Security payments for October is being sent this week, and for the first time, they are all paperless. The change follows the agency's new paperless policy, a new federal rule that ended paper checks as of September 30.

The switch to paperless payments comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March 2025. In his statement, Trump ordered the government to stop mailing paper checks and move to a fully digital system to cut costs and reduce fraud tied to lost or stolen paper checks.

The deadline to switch was September 30, per USA Today. October marks the first full month under the new paperless policy. Recipients will now need to use direct deposit or a Direct Express debit ...