Even though the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus was signed by President Joe Biden on Thursday and the U.S. Treasury immediately began sending out $1,400 payments to eligible Americans, millions of customers who use two major banks won’t see the money credited to their accounts until the middle of next week at the soonest, according to HuffPost:
Americans waiting to get their stimulus checks were growing increasingly frustrated Saturday after discovering some banks won’t make checks available to them for days, even if they’ve already been deposited by the federal government.
The official payment date for the “Economic Impact Payments” is March 17, but millions of dollars in checks had already landed in countless bank accounts by Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Some Americans may see the direct deposit payments as pending or as provisional payments in their accounts before the official payment date of March 17,” the Internal Revenue Service explained on its website.
The banks in question are two of the largest in the world, Chase and Wells Fargo.
Rather than admit they’re delaying the payments, Wells Fargo tried to make it sound like they were doing their customers a favor, tweeting out this notice:
Customers who are eligible to receive direct deposit of their stimulus payment may expect it as soon as March 17, 2021. https://t.co/ujd9oUUWmP
— Wells Fargo (@WellsFargo) March 12, 2021
As you might expect, delaying deposits to their customers is a massive financial boon to Chase and Wells Fargo:
“Sluggish check processing only works to banks’ advantage because of the increased ‘float’ created by a massive influx of government cash. They can juggle the delays to boost outgoing loans to other customers, and to boost their profits.”
That didn’t sit well with many on social media, who lit into the two U.S. banks:
It’s your money. The stimulus checks come directly from the United States Treasury. So why are @Chase and @WellsFargo holding onto your money until March 17? https://t.co/pNDYXYMeHy
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 13, 2021
Wells Fargo going max speed with those stimulus checks pic.twitter.com/AEmHUnZmM3
— Asher Solomon (@UCHusky16) March 13, 2021
Is Wells Fargo always the last bank to get the stimulus checks?🙄
— Kristen (@_KayBenji) March 12, 2021
Anyone wondering why JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are holding stimulus checks until March 17, look no further than this. Each bank makes around $5,000,000 per day on overdraft fees. @RepKatiePorter do your thing pic.twitter.com/ysnreF6VDY
— john (@johnlaf13) March 13, 2021
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