Fifth Third Bank has taken over the Direct Express program that Comerica Bank ran, and a recipient who receives two kinds of federal benefit can end up holding two separate cards. Existing cardholders were told to expect no immediate disruption, but the public record leaves out the date on which older Comerica-issued cards stop working. For people who rely on the card as the place a federal benefit lands each month, that missing date is the practical gap in an otherwise orderly handover.
A second benefit type becomes a second card
The Social Security Administration laid out the mechanics in a program message revised May 19, 2026. The message states that Fifth Third Bank “has purchased and merged with Comerica Bank,” and that the program is now managed by Fifth Third instead of Comerica. New Direct Express enrollments have been routed to Fifth Third since May 18, 2026.
The two-card outcome follows from that split. A person who already holds a Comerica card and then enrolls for another benefit is enrolled with the new bank. Once that enrollment is complete, the message says, the customer can call Treasury’s Electronic Payment Solution Center toll-free at 1-800-333-1795 to add the benefit to the new Fifth Third card. The consolidation is optional. In the message’s words, “If the customer chooses not to consolidate benefits, they will have two separate DE cards (one for each benefit type).”
Nothing in the message makes consolidation mandatory, and nothing says which card a recipient should keep. Each path leaves the holder responsible for knowing which deposit arrives where, which matters most in a month when a payment is late and the first question is which card to check.
Comerica cards keep working, but no end date is posted
The same message says there are no immediate impacts to SSA’s existing Direct Express customers. A companion notice for advocacy groups, posted May 18, 2026, adds the operative detail: cardholders “continue to use their Comerica-issued cards following transition until the card expires.”
The SSA message says cardholders will receive communication in advance of receiving a new card, and it asks them to confirm that the email and mailing addresses on file with Comerica are current. The address check is the one task the agency itself assigns.
What the pages do not supply is a cutoff. As read on October 2, 2026, neither SSA’s pages nor the Fiscal Service news page publishes a date on which Comerica-issued cards will be deactivated. The only outer limit stated anywhere is the expiration of each card, and the replacement timing for any single cardholder is left to the notice that is supposed to arrive first.
Treasury’s page names one bank while the program site shows two
Treasury’s own Direct Express page, last updated September 1, 2026, says “The Fifth Third Bank issues the DirectExpress Debit Mastercard” and makes no mention of Comerica or of any transition. Read alone, that page gives no hint that older cards from another issuer remain in use.
The program’s own site tells a more mixed story. Its terms and fees page states that terms and fees differ depending on who issued the card, and it explains how to tell the two apart: cards from the new bank carry the words “This card is issued by Fifth Third Bank” on the back. The SSA message likewise says fees for both Fifth Third Bank and Comerica Bank are posted on the Direct Express website. The site’s FAQ still describes the card as “issued by Comerica Bank, a division of Fifth Third Bank, N.A.,” which is how both names can be accurate at once.
For a household holding one older card, that arrangement changes little today. For a household holding one of each, the terms of two issuers apply side by side, and the fee table shown as text on the terms page on October 2 is the Comerica one.
The official route for questions costs nothing
The step SSA describes for consolidating runs through a free channel. The Electronic Payment Solution Center number, 1-800-333-1795, is toll-free, and Treasury’s program page lists the same line as open 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. Adding a benefit to the new card is done by phone with Treasury directly, with no paid intermediary required. The stakes reach well beyond a few households: a Fiscal Service program notice published November 21, 2024, said Direct Express served approximately 3.4 million Americans, the majority of whom do not have a bank account, so any gap in the public timeline lands on people with few other ways to receive a benefit.
The record to watch is the one the agencies keep. SSA’s message was revised May 19, 2026, Treasury’s program page was updated September 1, 2026, and neither yet carries a date for retiring the Comerica card. Until one appears on either page, the stated rule is the one in SSA’s advocates notice: a Comerica card works until it expires.
Tracking two cards through an issuer change
The Direct Express handover from Comerica to Fifth Third leaves some cardholders with a possible second card and no posted date for retiring the first. Knowing which deposit arrives on which card, and what sequence to follow if one fails to show after a card swap, is a practical job the announcements leave unfinished.
The Social Security Check Protection Kit includes a 2026 payment calendar for tracking deposit dates and a first-24-hours plan for a late or missing payment.
Get the 2026 payment calendar in The Social Security Check Protection Kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
