The IRS continues to send out weekly batches of those $1,200 stimulus payments which will eventually be received by most US residents.
Just a quick headsup: for those who were not eligible for direct deposit, payments were initially going out as checks. However, they’ve now changed this and are sending out payments for a lot of people in the form of Visa debit cards. These cards have a routing/account number which allow the funds to be transferred to your bank.
Keep an eye out for a plain envelope from “Money Network Cardholder Services.” Read more on IRS.gov. More information on the consumer finance page as well.
This is not related to the debit cards but a question about the potential for another stimulus. I have read several articles talking about another package happening in August when Congress comes back from recess. If all the criteria are the same, ie agi limits are 150k for married filing jointly….I would be under the agi limit with my 2018 return but would be over for 2019. I have not filed my 2019 return and considered requesting an extension to Oct 15th with the idea that the irs would still use my 2018 return to calculate the next stimulus payment.
Does anybody have any insight into how this would work? I would request an extension and pay my taxes on July 15th but not file until Oct. Would the irs still use my 2018 return?
Here’s an image of the envelope from a news site.
https://imgur.com/UFseZTP
is there ANYWAY to check and see if i was issued a card, and threw it away by MISTAKE.I don’t think i EVER received it, but i just wanna check and see
The ABC station in New York just did a store about people who threw away these cards. One person was angered that they asked her all sorts of identity verification questions when she called to ask about it, like her husband’s social security number. The report said “these are things we tell people never to give over the phone”. Both people they spoke to had thrown them away and had to go into the trash. One person had to tape the card back together since she had cut it up.
People really are idiots, including this reporter. I will post a link to the story if I find it online.
The automated phone system asked for last 6 of SS#, not full #
This person in the report was apparently speaking to someone on the phone. Or maybe she just didn’t give the correct info. She still said she didn’t have the info when she called and had to go find it.
They did say that one person managed to get their account activated and the money moved out without any trouble. But of course that doesn’t make for as good a story.
Yeah, one call, all automated, to register/activate the card and then transfer to a bank. I suppose it may have taken me longer than mobile deposit of a paper check, mainly because I had to look up the routing & acct. #, but it wasn’t more than an extra min. or two.
Well I spoke too soon (in reference to a reply to another post of yours). Older folks have a huge disdain about technology and privacy concerns. Old people will do things the old way no matter what and they want to keep it that way, it’s not that they are idiots.
I’m not saying I agree with check or disagree with debit cards. I’m just explaining the issues at hand. First it was direct deposit to bank, then it was paper check, now it is debit card. What’s next, an amazon package with cash?
The people getting the cards are those who the IRS does not have direct deposit information on, and who presumably did not go to the IRS site to provide it. Those people were getting checks.
BTW the two people they showed on TV who had trashed the cards were not seniors. And my reference to idiots was about the person complaining about it asking her all sorts of questions to verify her identity. One of them was apparently about a car she owned in 1991. The reporter made it seem like this was a ridiculous thing to be asking. Clearly she has never gone thru the verification process that some sites use when you open a new account. Pretty amazing for a consumer reporter.
The gov finds another way to line the pockets of corporations.
That’s idiotic. They did it because it was hopefully easier for people that a check. Should the government get into the business of issuing debit cards?
For situations such as these, I think so, yes. If MetaBank wasn’t getting a kickback from this, there wouldn’t be any fees associated with the card.
Careful with debit cards being sent out. Some have fees associated with them, if they are used more than 3 times. There may be other uses that incur fees. Best to read the rules/policies, if any provided, and use them for only 1-2 charges or transfers. Administration always looking for ways to shovel dough back to campaign contributors and supporters.
Lots of fees and traps, the “free option” may not be available to everyone, and when it does, its always a business directed at first data corp who owns money network.
Is any of this based on fact, or your opinion? Yes, everyone SHOULD read the terms and fee schedule. It has a dedicated website for that, and online acct access, at EIPCard.com. If someone is uncomfortable with the debit card and worried about fees, they can call them and have a check issued, or login and do an ACH transfer, which is what I would do.
I’ll just ignore the political comment.
Did trump sign the back of the debit card too?
No, I’m sure they’ll get a letter a couple of weeks later like those of us who got direct deposit did. I shredded it.
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/economic-impact-payment-prepaid-card/
Done
> they’ve now changed this and are sending out payments for a lot of people
Note it isn’t random who’s getting debit cards; it’s specifically filers from: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont; Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas.
I live in DC and got a debit card.
Add Pennsylvania to that list
Also NJ
My parents in PA got a card.
Couldn’t these be easily stolen from the mail and used by anyone?
…like anything else sent via mail? Yes.
They need to know your SSN.
I know older folks have issues with these type of payments. I remember my father got his tax return on a debit card many many years ago. He never used it and was charged inactivity fees. He lost thousands of dollars.
Don’t bring lots of cash when you go to jail too. They will put it on these debit cards when you get out.
Hmmm… thanks for that bit of info about jail. I will keep that in mind next time I am planning on getting arrested. 😋
Besides, according to the recent SB poll, only 1/3 of us carry cash all the time.
And those same older folks have problems getting a check when they are staying home and possibly only going out for groceries and many banks are closed. Yeah, the check wouldn’t lose value over time but it also might be lost or forgotten about by the time they got a chance to deposit it.
There really is no good answer. They tried something that someone thought would help people and apparently it’s causing problems for some of them.
My folks prefer check. In fact, they prefer everything by paper, whether it be taxes and bank statements in the mail. Are they the outliers or are they the norm for the boomers? I don’t know.