Arizona Offers Social Security Debit Cards

Getting Social Security benefits? You can spend that money with a debit card. The Social Security Administration is trying to go paperless by using debit cards and promoting direct deposit to beneficiaries. Arizona, with a healthy retiree population, is an ideal place to offer the debit card under the SSA's Direct Express program.

The program is especially helpful to those who do not have bank accounts. Their debit card is "recharged" with each Social Security payment, so they do not have to wait for a paper check and cash it. This avoids errors, and eliminates check cashing fees.

For more on the program, visit About.com's Phoenix pages, with 10 things you should know about direct express.