Report: Many Americans May Wait Months For Relief Checks
PHILADELPHIA – MAY 8: Economic stimulus checks are prepared for printing at the Philadelphia Financial Center May 8, 2008 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One hundred and thirty million households are eligible to receive a tax rebate check under the $168 billion economic stimulus plan. (Photo by Jeff Fusco/Getty Images)
Americans hoping to get their stimulus relief checks might not be getting them as quickly as they'd hoped.
NBC News reports that the first Americans to get relief payments from the government under the coronavirus legislation signed into law last month won’t see the money until at least the week of April 13, according to new estimates from the Trump administration provided to House Democrats and outlined in a memo circulated this week by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee. And if the IRS doesn't have your direct deposit information on file, it may take a lot longer: according to NBC's report, it could be months.
NBC reports that the memo estimates that about 60 million Americans will receive checks around April 13, and "about three weeks after those deposits go out, the IRS will start issuing paper checks, likely the week of May 4." NBC says that the office that issues paper checks can process about 5 million checks per week, so it could take 20 weeks – nearly 5 months – to get them all out. The office will process paper checks for the lowest-income Americans first.
They report that the memo also notes that people on Social Security won’t have to do anything to receive their payments – the rebate will be sent to them just as their Social Security checks are.
UPDATE: Fox News reports that at Thursday's press briefing, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin addressed the rumor that it could five weeks to get the first checks out for people who the IRS doesn't have direct deposit information for. "I told you it would be three weeks, now I’m telling you it will be two weeks," Mnuchin said during a press briefing on Thursday. "It is not going to take five weeks, I’m assuring the American public. They need the money now."
