Treasury is Delivering Millions of Economic Impact Payments by Prepaid Debit Card | U.S. Department of the Treasury
By: Secretary Janet L. Yellen
I received an EIP Card in the mail today. Didn't know these even existed. This is just another way to feed government money into a middleman bank.
What I want to know is who came up with this bright idea? And why haven't they been fired?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
This week, Treasury and the IRS started to send approximately 8 million Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) by prepaid debit card. The distribution of EIP Cards follows the millions of payments already made by direct deposit and the ongoing mailing of paper checks and are part of Treasury’s and is IRS’s plan to deliver Economic Impact Payments as rapidly as possible.
EIP Cards are safe, convenient, and secure. Cardholders can make purchases online or in-stores anywhere Visa® Debit Cards are accepted, get cash from domestic in-network ATMs, transfer funds to a personal bank account, and obtain a replacement EIP Card if needed without incurring any fees. They can also check their card balance online, through a mobile app, or by phone without incurring fees. The EIP Card provides consumer protections including certain protections against fraud, loss, and other errors.
EIP Cards will be sent in a white envelope that prominently displays the U.S. Department of the Treasury seal. The EIP Card has the Visa name on the front of the Card and the issuing bank name, MetaBank®, N.A. on the back of the card. Each mailing will include instructions on how to securely activate and use the EIP Card.
EIP Cards are being issued to eligible recipients across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In order to quickly disburse EIPs, some people who received EIPs by paper check for the first round of EIPs might receive an EIP Card this time, and some people who received an EIP Card for the first round may receive a paper check.
EIP Cards are sponsored by the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The EIP Card is part of Treasury’s U.S. Debit Card program, which provides prepaid debit card services to federal agencies for the electronic delivery of non-benefit payments. MetaBank N.A. was selected as Treasury’s financial agent for the U.S. Debit Card program in 2016, following a competitive selection process conducted by the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service. For more information about EIP Cards, please visit EIPCard.com .
The swift issuance of this second round of payments follows the successful delivery of more than 159 million CARES Act Economic Impact Payments totaling more than $270 billion last year.
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Who came up with this bright idea? And why haven't they been fired?
Why not just include handouts to banks in appropriation bills? That would be easier for Congress and less annoying for me.
I am not going to express gratitude for being used as a pass-through to give money to some politician's banker buddy.
Guess Biden is desperate to stimulate the economy; and give his donors from the banking industry some kickbacks in the process.
My husband and I received our first stimulus payment by way of one of these cards and that was under the Trump administration so these have been around longer than this current payment going out. I guess Trump's donors from the banking industry got some kickbacks too by your logic.
Thank you, you beat me to it.
First time I've of heard of these things. Whenever these were issued and whoever issues them; they're just giving public money as a kickback to a bank.
You bet, Trump's donors got a kickback. That's the whole point of issuing cards. I'm not getting relief money from the government, I'm getting money from a bank.
And that's okay as long as political points can be scored? Whoever came up with this bright idea should be fired.
The first time I heard of them was last year when we received our first payment on one. I had to google it to make sure it was legitimate. Our second payment was by way of check. I really hope we don't get the current payment on one of these cards again.
MetaBank even runs it's own Political Action Committee. Seems to support Republicans. How convenient. The kickbacks are laundered into donations.
Are you being irate for the sake of it?
The bank card is just a means to an end. Only the government can put money into the individual's account.
US government debit cards have been around for decades,
My first was a check. My second was a card. The third according to the IRS web site will be DD which I have yet to see.
Same with me. Mine was DD on 3/24.
I got the first 2 by check and this last one by direct deposit last week.
Aren't you ecstatic that a Republican bank knows how you are using your debit card? What you buy and where you buy it?
I can deposit a check into my bank account and I can spend cash. I don't need to activate a check, only endorse it. And I don't have to deal with political cronies.
What really stank was Wells Fargo, Chase and some other banks received the funds but left them in the payees' accounts as "pending" for three of four days before the funds were available. Nice little chunk of interest for the banks while their customers waited.
Your bank already knows how you spend your money and they give you an accounting of it every month in your statement.
No, they don't because I use cash. I don't pay for things with plastic because I don't want all the calls to extend by auto warranty.
Nerm, transfer the card value to your checking account and be done with it.
Different event, that was the small business protection program under Trump.
But you are correct, they took advantage of it.
I may just toss the damn thing and be done with it.
What a disappointment.
$1400.00 ? really? Just toss it in the trash?
smh
I have to pay income taxes every year which was the reasoning in the past for Bush and Trump to mail checks to me weeks after
everyone else got direct deposit.
This time they they used the information from Social Security and made a direct deposit.
Almost makes too much sense, lol.
Last year was the first year in over a decade I didn't owe taxes.
Yeah, really. I was looking forward to the check to help with dental work I deferred because of the pandemic. But I'm not sure it's really worth playing these stupid games.
I'm hearing impaired. How do I activate the card? That's the first challenge. And then my phone number will be on a list sold to marketing scammers. Why else would activating the card require calling a number? You think the bank won't make as much money as possible off this boondoggle? The second challenge will be trying to transfer the money since the bank I use closed its lobby last May because of the pandemic and only has a drive through available. I'm hearing impaired, remember?
I'm handicapped. This EIP Card doesn't accommodate my handicap. Trying to play this stupid game will be frustrating and make me feel stupid and angry with myself. I'm not sure that's worth $1,400. I've been there, done that.
Just tossing the damn thing is a very real option. What a disappointment.
Are you sure ? I thought it was stimulus payments. It was just a few weeks ago.
No stimulus went through any banks, it comes direct from Treasury.
Small business rescue loans went to dozens of banks to disperse at the beginning of the disbursement.
All part of the package.
Money Network Privacy Statement | Money Network Economic Impact Payments (eipcard.com)
or
Did you read the privacy statement?
The only thing this proves is that government can't even give away money without screwing it up.
Yes.
I got you the tty number, I cannot do more than that.On next years tax return, lie and say you never got the card, then you can take a credit, because the IRS will know that is true ( or not ).
but I am done with the topic.
According to the IRS website, first it said DD. I went back yesterday to see when I would get it and it now saws "check to address".
You do realize this is the same method used previously............don't you?
No, I wasn't aware. Trump really fucked up. Replacing Trump with Biden certainly didn't change anything.
There has been change, especially in regards to the pandemic.
Shouldn't you have looked it up before making the assertion?
That EIP Cards are a fuck up that should be eliminated? I don't care who is responsible as long as they are held responsible for this fuck up.
Yeah, I knew the government had become corrupted but I didn't know it had gotten this bad.
No wonder people don't trust the government any more.
You are way out on a limb.
My second was by card and I had no problem with it. There is like 37 cents left on it.
My husband and I received our first stimulus payment on one of these cards. When we received it, I had to search online to make sure it was legitimate as I saw no announcement that these cards would be issued as part of the stimulus.
Yep, I did the same thing. I have no idea who are what Metabank is and really shouldn't have to find out.
Crap like this is why people don't trust the government any more.
These cards have been around for decades and used by various Federal agencies and the military for travel allowances and other expenses.
The Feds began using it for stimulus delivery in May of 2020, under the previous Administration, ergo, nothing to do with
kickbacks to Biden or Trump.
I specifically remember that it worked for hotels and airfare, not gas stations.
And hotels always tried to give you the guaranteed government/military
rate but it was often a higher rate than one could get online. So we checked in at the lowest rate with a personal credit card
then switched cards to check out.
So I've learned. Trump royally fucked up. And replacing Trump with Biden obviously hasn't fixed the fuck up.
Technically Meta Bank outbid the previous Bank and others in 2016.
So there's your opportunity to blame yet another Administration for what amounts to nothing but normal business practices.
Then why aren't Democrats fixing this? Who is responsible for this fuck up?
If the Treasury Dept. can't conduct government business without using some bank then eliminate the Treasury Dept. They're only middlemen wasting public money. Fire 'em all and just let the banks take care of the government treasury.
There's nothing to fix except your perception of this service.
I cannot help you with that.
Carry on swatting at windmills...