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The U.S. Department of the Treasury plans to send information to 2 million Social Security check recipients in 12 western states encouraging them to sign up for the Direct Express Debit MasterCard program. Dallas-based Comerica Bank issues the Direct Express card. Benefits recipients in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming will receive the information with their benefit checks this month, according to the department, which says 10.3 million senior citizens and other benefits recipients receive Social Security checks. The Treasury Department has been promoting the cards on a roiling basis in about eight to 12 states per month (CardLine 6/10). Representatives from the Social Security Administration did not return calls for comment by CardLine deadline. The department would prefer that consumers receive benefits through the card accounts to reduce administration costs and the number of checks that are lost or stolen. Sending a check costs 98 cents, while a direct deposit into a card account costs 10 cents (CardLine 6/10). In its fifth annual Network Branded Prepaid Market Assessment last week, Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group Inc. predicts that Social Security payments likely will become the largest single open-loop segment in the next two to three years (CardLine 8/29).
