What’s on This Page

Latest News

Do I Need to Sign Up?

Will People on Disability Get Checks?

Will People Applying for Disability Get Checks?

Will People with No Income Get Checks?

When Will I Get My Check?

How Much Will the Checks Be?

Where Will I Get My Check?

How Do I Get a Check for My Child?

Will the Check Impact HUD and Section 8?

Will the Check Impact Food Stamps, SSI and Medicaid?

What if I Don’t Have a Bank Account?

What Happens If I Owe Child Support?

What if I Owe Taxes?

What if I Owe Money to Social Security?

What if Someone Owes Me Child Support?

Can Debt Collectors Take My Check?

Where Can I Find Accurate, Reliable Intel?

Latest News, July 18

🌷 If you or your kids haven’t received a check yet: Three Places to Sign Up For Stimulus Checks

🧡 Below is all information currently available. Things could change. We are continually updating this page. Please check back. For more updates, you can also join our Facebook Page.

Who Will Get a Check?

If your income is less than $75,000 per year, you are eligible

More than $75,000, your check will be lowered or eliminated

You must have a Social Security number

If you are over age 16, you cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s taxes. There are a few exceptions for 17 and 18 year olds adults .

How Much Will the Checks be For?

$1,200 for adults

$500 for children age 16 and under

When Will My Check Come?

Checks are going out in batches. The timing of your check depends on a few different factors: When Will My Check Come?

IRS has created a page where you can track your check: Get My Payment

The tool does not work for everyone. It only works for people who either filed taxes or signed up for a check. However, it also does not work for some of those people. Don’t worry if you get a message that information is not available. This is common.

What Do I Do If There’s a Problem?

🧡 Stimulus payments have started arriving and it is a giant mess! Most common problems reported by our readers:

getting no check

getting a check for adults, but child’s payment missing

getting messages that checks will be sent by mail, but then receiving them by direct deposit

check’s being sent to wrong bank accounts

🧡 Stay tuned. The treasury department has not yet released information on how to resolve these problems. In some cases, there is no problem, your check just hasn’t been sent yet: Why Didn’t I Get a Stimulus Check? When Will It Come?

🧡 If you are having problems, CNN has suggested to handle it this way: “The IRS will send a confirmation letter via mail within 15 days. This letter will explain the amount of your stimulus check and how to report any issues with the payment. You can use that information when the letter comes to report any discrepancies.”

🧡 Note: The IRS is sending out letters by mail. Not by email, text or phone call. If you receive an email text or phone call, it may be a scam.

Why Didn’t My Child Get a Check?

Many people are reporting that they received checks, but child’s payment was missing. Learn more: Why Didn’t My Child Get a Check?

Will People on Disability Get Checks?

Yes. If you meet the criteria listed above, you are eligible. Some people on Social Security will need to sign up. Some won’t. See details below.

Will People Applying for Disability Get Checks?

Yes. If you meet the criteria listed above, you are eligible. If you did not file taxes in 2018 or 2019, you will need to sign up: Three Places to Sign Up

Will People with No Income Get Checks?

Yes. If you meet the criteria listed above, you are eligible. If you did not file taxes in 2018 or 2019, you will need to sign up: Three Places to Sign Up

What Happens to Dependents?

A dependent is anyone who is claimed as a dependent on someone else’s taxes.

In most cases, dependents under age 17 will get $500

In most cases, dependents age 17+ will get $0

There are some exceptions!

I’m On Social Security. Do I Need to Sign Up?

Most people on Social Security will automatically get payments and don’t need to do anything. However, you may still need to sign up if one of these things are true:

You have children under 17 or

You first started receiving Social Security after January 1, 2020.

Learn more:

What if I Already Mailed in a 2019 Tax Return?

The IRS has stopped processing paper tax returns. If you filed on paper in 2019, they will use your 2018 return instead. Another option is to file taxes electronically, or to sign up for a stimulus check: Three Places to Sign Up For Stimulus Checks

What Happens if I Owe Child Support?

If you owe past due child support, in some cases, your check may be used for the child support. See details below.

What if I Owe Taxes?

If you owe taxes, this has no impact on your check. In addition, if you are disabled, you might find something on this page helpful: How to Get Tax Breaks for Disabilities

What if I Owe Student Loans?

If you owe student loans, this has no impact on your check. In addition, you might find something on this page helpful: Help with Student Loans in the Time of Coronavirus

Will the Stimulus Check Impact HUD, Vouchers, and Section 8?

No. One-time lump sum payments never count as income for HUD. What Counts in HUD Housing

Will the Stimulus Check Impact Other Benefits?

No. The stimulus checks are being structured as tax refunds (even if you paid no taxes). Tax refunds do not count against food stamps, SNAP, CalFresh, Medicaid, TANF, SSI, healthcare marketplace credits, and most other government programs.

The stimulus check also will not count if it makes your bank account too high (it doesn’t count for 12 months).

Want official confirmation? Look here: Congressional Research Services Summary and 26 U.S. Code § 6409 and Fact Sheet from House Committee on Ways and Means

Which Tax Return Will They Use?

Treasury Department previously stated that checks would be based on 2019 tax returns, and only use 2018 if 2019 was not filed. Reader’s report that this is not true, and they are using the 2018 first for some people.

Which tax return they use can be significant for parents. It can impact whether your child gets a check if your child is now 17 or 18. It can also impact which parent receives the check, if parents are divorced or file separately. Stimulus Checks Tips for Parents

Bank Accounts

IRS has created a page where you can track your check: Get My Payment.

The tool does not work for everyone. If it works for you, you can use this tool to add a bank account (or check to make sure your check is going to the bank account where you want it to go).

Reader’s tip: If using the new IRS tool to change your bank account number, they site may accept your bank number if you choose “savings” instead of “checking.”

“I Don’t Have a Bank Account”

For people on Social Security: The payment will go wherever your normal Social Security check goes (Direct Express card, or to your representative payee’s account)

Not on Social Security: You will be mailed a paper check. It may take longer to get your check.

Need a bank? The fastest and easiest way to get your stimulus check is to have a bank account. If you’ve been been turned down when you tried to open a bank account, you might try one of these second chance banks.

Can Debt Collectors Take Your Check?

🧡 If your stimulus check goes into a bank account where you owe the bank money, the bank may be able to automatically take your check. Read more.

🧡 You may wish to use a bank account that debt collectors don’t have access to. Or to take the money out of the account if there is time (if you owe money to the bank, it may be immediate).

🧡 Unlike Social Security payments, stimulus checks are not protected from debt collectors. Learn more about How to Deal with Debt & Disability

Where Will I Get My Check? Bank Account? Direct Express Card?

If your check is sent through Social Security, it will go wherever your normal social security payment goes (bank or Direct Express Card).

If you filed taxes or signed up for a stimulus check, it will go to whatever bank information you listed. If you listed no bank, you will get a paper check.

Where Can I Learn More About Adult Dependents?

Updates for adults who are dependents. Information on: Adults On Social Security, Parents Who Have Guardianship, Parents Who are Caregivers, People with Representative Payees, and People Collecting Social Security through a Parent. Stimulus Checks for Adults Who are Dependents

What if I’m On Social Security and have a Representative Payee?

🧡 Many readers are writing to ask what happens if they have a representative payee for their disability check. The answer is: Nothing. Having a payee has no impact on stimulus checks. All that matters if whether or not you were claimed as a dependent on taxes or on stimulus sign up forms.

🧡 For people with payees, where does your stimulus check go? If you signed up using the IRS tool, your check will go to whatever bank account you listed, or if you didn’t list one, you’ll be mailed a paper check. If you didn’t sign up, then your check will go to wherever your Social Security payment usually goes. Learn more about representative payees, and how to avoid them or change them: How to Avoid Getting a Representative Payee

Where Can I Learn More for Parents?

Here’s where you can find info for:

Parents with kids under 17

Parents on Social Security

Kids on Social Security

Kids who recently turned 17 or 18

Parents who owe child support

Parents who are owed child support

Getting a paycheck while home with your kids

Tip for Parents of disabled adult children

Tips for parent providers

Stimulus Checks Tips for Parents

Where Can I Find Reliable Info?

Many news sources are continuing to print misleading or inaccurate information about the stimulus checks. Here’s where you can find accurate reliable info: Democrat’s Statement on Cash payments to Americans and this IRS page and this Fact Sheet from House Committee on Ways and Means. And Social Security Announcement about Stimulus Checks.

In the documents above, it’s important to keep in mind that any reference to “Social Security Disability Income” or “Social Security Benefits” does not include SSI. That is referring to SSDI or other forms of Social Security only.

Today’s Updates

For anyone who is homebound or sheltering in place: Food. Rent. Internet. Unemployment. Paid Leave. Student Loans. Grocery Delivery. Love. Bills. Online Doctors. What to Do During School Closings: Read All of Today’s Updates

For more updates, you can also join our Facebook Page. Please comment below if you discover new information from reliable sources.

Remember ME

This blog was created by people with ME/CFS (Sometimes called “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”).

Being homebound is nothing new to us. Many of us have been homebound or bedridden for five, or ten, or twenty years.

There is now a great deal of support, understanding, and help available to people staying home during Coronavirus, but none of this was available to us all these years, and when Coronavirus is over, it may go away again.

As you go about your day, please take a moment to think about your homebound friends. You may be able to go back out someday, but we may never be able to.

💗💗💗,