This week, 4 million Americans will receive prepaid debit cards
DORAL, FL – If you still haven’t received an stimulus check, you’ll be glad to know that today the U.S. Treasury Department announced they will be sending 4 million Economic Impact Payments (EIP) via prepaid debit cards this week.
“Treasury and the IRS have been working with unprecedented speed to issue Economic Impact Payments to American families,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “Prepaid debit cards are secure, easy to use, and allow us to deliver Americans their money quickly.”
Originally, it was stated that the estimated time to process the millions of checks for individuals who did not have an address on file, could be 4 or 5 months. The alternative of sending out 4 million prepaid debit cards to recipients who meet that criteria will reduce that time.
To date, the IRS has already issued over 140 million payments of which most were made via direct deposit. If the agency didn’t have a recipient’s bank account information from previous tax returns or submissions to its new online tools, the IRS mailed paper checks. Now, they could get prepaid debit cards instead.
The IRS is issuing these to taxpayers whose tax return was processed by either the Andover or Austin IRS Service Center.
The EIP Visa cards, issued by MetaBank, will be mailed with instructions for activation and can be used to make purchases and transfer funds to a personal bank account without incurring any fees.
These debit cards can be used online, at ATMs, or at any retail location where Visa V is accepted. It will count with protection against fraud, loss, and other errors.
For additional information on its benefits or how to use this card, you can go to the EIP Card website and FAQ page.
These cards will be like those pre-paid cards you can buy in a store and more and more no longer buy them as gift cards as they are full of problems like activation problems.
The debit cards are rather insulting because unlike a check where you withdraw the cash , use it as you want , a debit card keeps a list of where you spent the money .
Not like anyone is going to buy anything illegal but never the less the issuer of the debit card can monitor what you used it for just like your regular credit card send you a bill .
I got my check but I find the debit card very unfair to half the country who will get that instead of a check and why this is being done is a mystery .
The real solution is the IRS getting back to work now .