MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Those $1,200 payments to help Americans through this crisis are expected to start arriving next week. Some of those who need the money the most may have trouble actually getting it or getting it quickly. But as NPR's Chris Arnold reports now, there are some workarounds.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: Begin Nora lives in Seattle, where the pandemic, of course, first started in the U.S. She's a musician, and events were pretty quickly called off.
BEGIN NORA: I have lost all of my income.
ARNOLD: Nora usually cobbles together a living by performing and teaching music in a bunch of different places, so she still hasn't been able to figure out how to file for unemployment.
NORA: At least 12 different jobs. Yeah, it's like a huge, confusing conglomeration of things.
ARNOLD: Her husband makes just above minimum wage at an auto collision repair shop. His hours have been cut back. And they have three teenage kids.
NORA: It is very scary, especially since we were already, you know, a family on a low income. We're relying on our local school food bank and school drive-up free meal, grab-and-go meals.
ARNOLD: So the couple is really looking forward to getting that emergency money from the government. Since they filed taxes and used direct deposit, the payment should come automatically and through direct deposit.
NORA: Yes, I am checking my bank account daily to see if it has arrived.
ARNOLD: But the couple has some debt. Nora's husband got a hernia, and they got hit with an unexpected medical bill for upwards of $5,000 last year that they've been struggling to pay off. Many people on low incomes have unpaid bills, which can bring on the debt collectors. And advocates worry that millions of people could get these emergency government payments snatched right out of their bank accounts.
FARAH MAJID: It happens all the time to people.
ARNOLD: Farah Majid is a lawyer at Legal Services Alabama. She says what often happens is that debt collectors get court judgments against people, and that enables them - depending on what state you live in - to get the money from your bank.
MAJID: If you can find money that's sitting in a bank account, then they can just grab whatever money's in there. So it's really easy for them to collect their money that way.
ARNOLD: And when a big check comes in, that can be when debt collectors pounce. Majid says they'll do this when tax refunds start arriving, for example, and they'll grab that money. And she worries now collectors might be gearing up to grab these emergency payments.
MAJID: That is what really scares me, is people that need this money, are depending on it desperately right now - which is why the government is giving it to them - could then turn around and lose it unexpectedly and, basically, not have any options.
ARNOLD: And actually, there is something the government could do to try to block the debt collectors. They already do this for benefits such as Social Security. The payments are coded in a special way. Lauren Saunders is with the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center.
LAUREN SAUNDERS: Banks automatically know not to let collectors grab that money. We are trying to get these stimulus payments coded in the exact same way because they are intended for food and basic necessities, just like Social Security payments.
ARNOLD: There's some bipartisan support for that. Beyond the debt collector problem, millions of low-income Americans don't have a bank account, and waiting for a check in the mail could take a month or more. Also, unless you get Social Security, if you didn't file taxes in the past two years, you won't get a payment sent to you automatically. You can find out what to do about that at irs.gov. Saunders is hoping that soon they'll have multiple options for people to get the payments electronically.
SAUNDERS: Hopefully, they can set up a direct deposit to a traditional bank account or to a prepaid account.
ARNOLD: Meaning the government could load the money onto a type of debit card that doesn't require you to have a bank account.
Chris Arnold, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF KORESMA'S "CANYON WALLS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
