Round two of the government stimulus payments have already landed in over two thirds of checking accounts and registered prepaid accounts. Data regarding this government-to-consumer disbursement was released by the IRS and reported on by the Wall Street Journal. This was much improved from the first round of Economic Impact Payments earlier in the year which had reached about 50% of recipients after two weeks.
What has changed since the first go-around is that individuals have updated their account information with the IRS to insure faster delivery. Of course, there are those who don’t have an account, don’t have a prepaid card or simply are not comfortable sharing that with the IRS so the remaining third will be sent through checks or a prepaid card. Here are some details from the article:
The payments—$600 per adult and $600 per child—were estimated to cost about $164 billion in all. They are part of a broader relief law last month that also includes unemployment insurance and money for small businesses.
The pace of payments is faster than in the spring, when the government made the first round of payments of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. Then, about half the payments reached bank accounts within two weeks. Now, more than two-thirds of the money has gone out within about one week after President Trump signed the law passed by Congress.
In addition to the $112 billion in electronic payments, the government is also mailing checks and prepaid debit cards. It hasn’t said how many payments have been made.
One unfortunate aspect of this article is that it perpetuates the misnomer that these electronic disbursements were slow to arrive based on the selected payment type. In actuality, the IRS determined the date that the payment should arrive in citizens’ accounts and that is when it was delivered.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group
