U.S. government is phasing out paper checks. Here's what that means for you

Washington — The U.S. government starts phasing out paper checks for most programs on Tuesday.

The change, which was initiated through an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March, will affect recipients of benefits including Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and tax refunds.

Trump's Republican administration argues the shift of all payments and collections to electronic methods is designed to protect taxpayers from fraud and stolen checks, speed up processing and cut costs. But advocates fear that the shift will hurt marginalized Americans who lack access to digital services and may not even know this phase-out is coming.

"A lot of claimants move around and don’t always get their mail,” says Jennifer Burdick, a divisional supervising attorney in the SSI Uni