MICHIGAN -- For some seniors, the Social Security check will go plastic this year. 

Banks supplying the card, such as Comerica Bank in Detroit, will make money on some fees connected to the card, the float of the unused money in the accounts and interchange fees when the card is used at retailers, the Detroit Free Press reports. 

Those who sign up for the prepaid debit card for Social Security benefits will see their payments automatically loaded onto the card each month. The card could then be used online to buy items, at the grocery store or other stores or to get money out through ATMs, writes the newspaper.

Beginning this spring, a prepaid debit card for Social Security benefits will be introduced in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Later in 2008, the prepaid card -- which is designed to help the U.S. Treasury Department cut down on the costs of mailing paper checks -- would be rolled out nationwide.

In Michigan, checks are issued for about 17 percent of the total payments for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients. In Kentucky and West Virginia, the percentage of payments issued by check is more than 30 percent.