How The COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Will Impact You

Speaker 1: 00:00 Amid the pressure of overfilled ICU's and job loss. President Trump signed a second COVID relief bill last night, the bill sets in motion, stimulus checks for eligible Americans extends unemployment benefits and more to break down how this bill will impact your wallet is Ron Lieber, the New York times your money columnist. Thanks for joining us, Ron, thank you for having me. So let's start with the stimulus payments. People will be receiving who will be getting those and how much will they be Speaker 2: 00:29 Going to work pretty similarly to the way that it did back in March, but the payments will not be the same. So it's going to be $600 per adult individual instead of the $1,200 people got before. Um, if you've got kids, uh, you will get $600 per kid, uh, up to the age of 17. And so that's how it's going to work this time for the payments. Um, there is, uh, a little bit of a twist. Now they've clarified that if you happen to be a citizen yourself, but are married to a non citizen, you as a citizen will not be ineligible anymore. So that's a change from before. Speaker 1: 01:10 Hmm. And when will people see these checks and will they come in the mail or be directly deposited into bank accounts? Speaker 2: 01:17 Well, it's hard to say. I mean, under the very best of circumstances, the money starts showing up in people's accounts may be next week sometime, but that is only people who are set up to receive these payments by direct deposit. You will know if that's the case. If you manage to get my direct deposit last time, then there are millions more people who will get it by paper check or via a debit card, depending on if they interact with the federal government through other sorts of benefit programs that allow them to receive payments via the plastic debit card. So it's just going to depend in some ways, or maybe in large part on how it worked last time for you. Speaker 1: 01:56 Mm. And how will this bill impact people who are receiving unemployment? Speaker 2: 01:59 It will help them. So there is, uh, an extension in place of federal unemployment benefits. Um, this will go through the middle of March. So it's going to allow people to get up to 11 weeks of extra benefit at $300 per week. So this is above and beyond whatever you may or may not be eligible for via the state. So this gets complicated because every state has their own system and every state system works a little bit differently. So if you have already filed for unemployment, say with the state of California, you should have a reasonably good sense of how it works. I would be keeping a very close eye on your state's unemployment agency website for instructions. Um, if there's anything you need to do, uh, or just for information about when you might expect to payments Speaker 1: 02:53 And how about those who are self-employed, Speaker 2: 02:56 There will also be an extension of the same, um, federal benefit that was made available to them. So again, if that is the spot that you're in, you should keep a close eye on the state's website for more information about how that will work. Speaker 1: 03:09 And this bill also made some changes to food assistance. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, Speaker 2: 03:14 Yes. There's going to be an, uh, an increase for people who were eligible for what's colloquially known as food stamps, but as officially known as snap benefits. And so that's going to benefit people who should get a boost up to 15% and the maximum amount that's available to them. Uh, so that is happening. And then the other thing that's changed is that college students who traditionally have had a very difficult time qualifying for food stamps, um, it has now become easier for them to do so. The qualifications are not simple. And again, if you are a college student, and if you are eligible for a federal or state work study job, there's a chance that you may now be eligible for food stamps depending on your income and, um, a number of other things. So there are two, you want to look at the state agency's website that keeps track of, um, snap benefits and, or talk to somebody in your financial aid office to see if they can help you. Speaker 1: 04:14 What about people who are trying to keep a roof over their heads? Talk to me about what relief looks like for them in this bill. Sure. Speaker 2: 04:20 So much depends on whether you are an owner or whether you're a renter. The renters got an extension of what had been a federal eviction moratorium, um, that was supposed to expire. And so those folks now have a little bit longer to be protected. And so you'll want to make sure that your landlord is aware of this as well. Some landlords, you know, plead ignorance. Um, so if you're in conversation with your landlord, uh, you'll want to make sure that they are aware of it. So that gives you a little bit longer and we should expect that the Biden administration is going to take another look at this, uh, towards the end of January. And there may well be another extension after Speaker 1: 05:01 Hmm. And there will be help paying for internet service for some who will be eligible for that. Speaker 2: 05:07 Yeah. So this was something that was, um, that was new and potentially very generous. Um, there are a number of people who qualify for existing federal programs, known as lifeline programs that, um, help pay for high speed internet. But what's new here now is that they've created a pool of money that will exist until it's depleted. That will help anybody who has lost a job or lost a significant amount of income and can prove it through a furlough notice or having qualified for unemployment benefits, um, sometime this year. Uh, and we'll give you up to $50 per month or $75 per month if you live on tribal lands towards the internet. So basically anybody who's been laid off at any point this year should be eligible for this. Um, it's not clear how quickly the money will disappear, but what you're going to want to do is you're going to want to go to your internet provider and say, hi, I've heard about this $50 benefit that is now available to me. How do I qualify? And it will probably be mid to late January before any of the carriers have systems in place, but after that, that money should be available. And so, you know, 50 bucks a month is not nothing. And it's worth taking a look at if you have endured that kind of hardship. Speaker 1: 06:21 Yeah. And you know, there's also something in there regarding unused money and FSA accounts. What are these accounts and what is the chain? Speaker 2: 06:29 Sure. Um, so this will benefit people more at the sort of, um, uh, you know, upper end of the income stream generally, or at least people who have been lucky enough to have gainful employment. What these flexible spending accounts do is that they help people who work for an employer that offer the benefit, um, where you can take money from your paycheck and put it aside in an account that you can use for health care expenses or daycare expenses, or other dependent care expenses, uh, that your insurance does not cover. And so the way this came into play was that there were all sorts of people whose lives were completely disrupted this year, right? And they did not end up having the same expenses as they thought they would. And for people whose expenses went down, particularly people whose daycare's closed, right, D the money in those accounts normally expires at the end of the year. So now it's not going to expire anymore. As long as your employer agrees to allow you to roll it over. So that'll be true for this year and it will be true for next year. So the bottom line is it gives people who have the privilege of having access to this account, uh, way more flexibility with their money and will help them not lose it. At the end of the calendar years. Speaker 1: 07:42 Is there a relief for small businesses included? Speaker 2: 07:45 There is an extension of the PPP program, um, that was a, a sort of a forgivable loan, um, to small businesses. Um, and so there are going to be more of those loans available now, as we learned this year, right? It, isn't always simple getting a hold of them. And it isn't always simple, um, applying for forgiveness, but on the whole, the people that were able to get their hands on them, um, did find, uh, that they helped a great deal in terms of being able to keep the lights on. So there are going to be additional funds available for now, um, for people who might need them. So, um, that is going to be a big benefit for those who are in a position to take advantage of it. Speaker 1: 08:25 Lots of good information there. I've been speaking with Ron Lieber, the New York times, your money columnist, Ron. Thanks. Thanks so much for having me. Speaker 3: 08:37 [inaudible].