BATON ROUGE, La. (WGMB/WVLA) — About 10 million qualifying Americans are still waiting on their stimulus payment, according to the latest numbers from the Internal Revenue Service. On Monday, the IRS announced that about 4 million of those will now be sent a debit card preloaded with the funds.
“Prepaid debit cards are secure, easy to use, and allow us to deliver Americans their money quickly. Recipients can immediately activate and use the cards safely,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
The payments began going out the week of May 18 and were issued by MetaBank.
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“EIP Cards are being distributed to qualified individuals without bank information on file with the IRS, and whose tax return was processed by either the Andover or Austin IRS Service Center,” the Treasury statement said.
Americans started receiving their relief payments in mid-April, totaling $239 billion, mostly by direct deposit. If the IRS did not have a person’s bank account information, either from a previous tax return or the online web tool, then the agency mailed a paper check.
Anyone who lives in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi or Texas usually files their return with the Austin, TX service center, according to the IRS website. Filers in the District of Columbia and Maryland have been known to file with the Andover, Massachusetts, processing center.
The debit cards will be sent from Money Network Cardholder Services, according to the IRS website. Instructions on how to activate the card will be enclosed. Each household will receive only one card. The cards can be used to withdraw cash from an ATM, transfer funds to a bank account or make purchases wherever Visa is accepted.
Recipients of the prepaid card will be able to register the card for online access and visit EIPCard.com to check their balance and transaction history.