Your Direct Express Card Is Getting Reissued. Real Letter, Real New Card. Every Call About It Is a Scam.

If your Social Security, SSI, VA, or other federal benefit lands on a Direct Express prepaid card, a replacement card is coming from Fifth Third Bank. Not this week. Not next month. And your Comerica-issued card keeps working right up to the day the new one arrives in the mail.

You don’t need to do anything now. That’s the whole message. Save it and forget it. But if you get a phone call or a text claiming your Direct Express card was “deactivated” and you need to verify your card number to keep receiving benefits, that call is a scammer, not the bank.

Here’s what actually happened. On September 9, 2025, the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service handed the Direct Express contract to Fifth Third Bank, replacing Comerica, which had run the program since it launched in 2008. Direct Express serves about 3.4 million Americans, and 57 percent of them have no income beyond federal benefits. New sign-ups have been going to Fifth Third throughout 2026. Existing Comerica cardholders get moved to Fifth Third in phases through 2026 and into 2027. Mastercard stays as the payment network, so nothing about how the card works on your end changes.

Translation: today, nothing has changed on your card. When it does, the change will show up as a plain envelope from Fifth Third with a new card inside. Free. No call. No text. No link to click. Activate the new card the way the letter tells you, cut up the old one, and you’re done.

Here’s the catch. A card swap this big is exactly what scammers wait for. The old Direct Express phishing script goes like this: a robocall or text says your card is “locked” or “expiring.” Press 1, then enter your Social Security number and card number to unlock it. What actually happens is the fraudster drains the account before your next deposit hits. The Social Security Office of the Inspector General has been warning about this exact scam since at least 2015, and the Comerica-to-Fifth Third handover gives it a fresh cover story: “we need to move you to the new bank.”

The rule to memorize: Direct Express does not call, text, or email asking for your card number, PIN, password, or Social Security number. Ever. Not to activate a card. Not to move an account. Not because of a “suspicious login.” If someone asks, it’s a scammer.

Do this now. Add the real Direct Express customer service number, (888) 741-1115, to your phone contacts, and add the SSA fraud hotline, (800) 269-0271, right underneath it. The next time your phone rings with a story about your card, hang up and call the number in your contacts. Only go online at usdirectexpress.com or web.usdirectexpress.com. Not a lookalike, not a link in a text.

File this away for the next few months. When a real letter arrives from Fifth Third with a new Direct Express card inside, you’ll know it isn’t the scam and you can activate it the way the letter says. Until then, your old card is fine, your deposits will keep landing, and the only calls about your card that matter are the ones you make.

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