Debt collectors and banks allowed to take coronavirus checks to pay bills

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When it comes to America’s government there is always a catch and we have just stumbled onto it.

According to an article in Fortune and The American Prospect, the $1200 CARES Act stimulus checks that the federal government has begun sending out to American’s who qualify is in peril of being scooped up by unscrupulous debt collectors. The act bars the federal government or the state from taking these funds to say, pay down tax debt. However, there is no such provision for private debts.

Essentially, some greedy a$$hole has the legal right to snatch a few slices of bread out of your loaf before you even see it.

Fortunately, there are several states’ Attorneys General like Letita James of New York and Dana Nessel of Michigan who have signed a letter penned to Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin asking him to put forth regulations to stop potential debt-colletor d-bags to do such.

At this time the Treasury Department doesn’t seem to have a problem with this potential practice. During a webinar with banking executives recently they were asked specifically about this and here’s the wink-wink answer that the Bureau of the Fiscal Service chief disbursing officer Ronda Kent gave:

“whether these payments could be subject to collection from the bank to which the money is deposited, if the payee owes an outstanding loan or other payments to the bank.” She responded—twice—that “there’s nothing in the law that precludes that action,” while counseling that the banks’ compliance officers should consult with their legal offices about what policies their banks will implement. “You will want to know for your bank what your bank has decided to do,” Kent said.

Don’t take our word for it. Here’s the audio:

It’s a dirty game. What type of slimy human would take the crisis money out of poor peoples’ mouths? Capitalism should have more class than that, shouldn’t it?