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UNITED STATES – Long days of negotiations in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate before finally arriving at the office of Donald Trump and finally never seeing anything coming?
The United States approved a massive stimulus package on March 27 to try to avoid a plunge in its economy. Bill amount: $ 2.2 trillion. If the sum is to benefit largely businesses, an envelope has still been provided to help households on the front line of the coronavirus crisis.
In particular, it was announced that a check for $ 1,200 would be sent to each American, provided that his annual earnings for the previous year did not exceed $ 75,000 gross. Married couples with an annual income of less than $ 150,000 will be able to receive $ 2,400. In the case of a dependent child, $ 500 per child will also be allocated.
An insufficient sum for certain Americans who found themselves unemployed overnight, and who at the same time lost their health insurance, but who still have to pay for their errands, their expenses and their rent. A boost on which they count despite everything, but which they could not ultimately see the color.
“Nothing in the law prevents it from doing so”
Each “stimulus check”, as it is nicknamed across the Atlantic, could indeed be confiscated by the bank (where it arrives on transfer form) if its recipient has outstanding debts, reports this Tuesday April 14 The American Prospect which posted an audio extract of a virtual conference of the Ministry of Finance with representatives of the country’s banks.
“Can payments be collected by the bank through which they pass if the beneficiary has a loan or debts outstanding with the bank?”, We hear a banking establishment asking.
“There is nothing in the law to prevent it,” twice Ronda Kent, who works for the government, answers before advising banks to ask their lawyers to find out what they can do. .
In practice, an American eligible for the payment of the 1200 dollars could therefore see this sum used, in whole or in part, by his bank in order to pay off a monthly payment late or costs linked to an overdraft, for example. According to studies from 2019 and 2017, about 9% of Americans were late to repay their loans and the same proportion was overdrawn more than 10 times a year and found themselves having to pay $ 450 in bank fees.
Several billion in reserve
If elected officials had made it possible in late March that these payments could not be recovered to settle debts generated at the federal or state level, debts with a bank were not however expressly mentioned, note The American Prospect.
When questioned by the site, none of the five largest US banks (JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank and U.S. Bank) agreed to agree not to touch the funds. Only JPMorgan Chase promised to return the transfer to the government if it was ever sent to a negative balance account, but abandoned by the client who has since changed banks. The finance ministry also declined to comment.
American banks JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, on the other hand, spoke on Tuesday 14 to say they expect a “severe recession” of the economy, with an unemployment rate of 20% in the second quarter which should lead to a spike in unpaid by individuals and businesses.
Despite net profits in sharp decline for the two banks -JPMorgan earned 2.9 billion dollars, against 9.2 billion in the first quarter 2019, and Wells Fargo had to settle for 653 million dollars, against a gain of 5 .85 billion a year earlier – each was able to set aside. JPMorgan Chase has a mattress of $ 8.3 billion to cover future defaults on its debtors and Wells Fargo of $ 4 billion.
See also on The HuffPost: Saving the economy rather than lives? Trump’s speech arrives in France
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