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Some Social Security beneficiaries will receive two checks this July as a quirk in the calendar shifted the payment timeline for an adjacent month.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) ordinarily disburses payments for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) on the first day of a given month. The SSI program provides monthly payments to certain older adults who have little or no income, as well as to disabled individuals, which differentiates it from Social Security’s standard retirement benefits.
When the first of the month falls on a weekend or a federal holiday, SSI payments for that month are made on the last business day of the preceding month to ensure that beneficiaries have received their funds before the new month begins, and they face potential expenses.
Due to the way the 2026 calendar falls, two SSI payments will go out in July – one went out last week on July 1, while another will go out on Friday, July 31, for the month of August because Aug. 1 falls on a Saturday.
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The 2026 calendar will cause this dynamic to play out two more times this year for SSI payments.
Both October and December will see a pair of SSI payments go out to beneficiaries due to November 1 falling on a weekend and January 1 being a federal holiday on a Friday.
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SSI payments are typically made via direct deposit, though beneficiaries without bank accounts or who want to receive the funds through a different mechanism can get them on Direct Express cards.
SSA moved to discontinue paper checks at the end of the federal government’s last fiscal year in September following a Trump administration order earlier in 2025 that mandated all federal payments transition to electronic transfers, such as direct deposit to bank accounts or transfers to debit cards.
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Data from the SSA showed that as of last September, more than 68 million Americans were receiving Social Security benefits and of that figure, around 390,000 or 0.6% were receiving paper checks.
The SSA website offers methods by which beneficiaries can enroll in direct deposit through the My Social Security platform, or by phone through either the SSA or the Treasury Department’s electronic payment solution center.
