Starting in 2013, the federal government will phase out paper checks for all benefit programs, requiring people to receive their payments electronically, either through direct deposit or a debit card. The switch will lead to both safer and more efficient payments; in 2010 alone, 540,000 federal checks were stolen. Social Security projects $1 billion in savings over the next decade. “It’s just that natural progression of moving to how people are used to receiving their funds,” Walt Henderson, director of the Treasury Department’s electronic funds transfer division, said to the Associated Press.