Some are getting gift/money cards now.

I think they should issue them as a loan. If your 2021 tax bracket is 22 perecent or above, you owe the whole amount back. This would get the money out there fast and get the stimulus going without going through a lot of pre-approval time and paperwork, but in the end wouldn’t waste a lot of money on people who don’t need it.

^^^ They just decrease the check amount for anyone over $75K AGI

That looks back to a person’s situation before the economic crash. How much someone made in 2019 does not necessarily reflect their current situation. The stimulus ought the be based on what they are making now, which would be reflected in their 2021 tax returns.

They took my 2019 reported earnings and decreased my check to $440
I don't think there is a fairer way to do it.
I don't need the check and they adjusted it accordingly.

That's the latest earnings that they could look at.

Many people did well in 2019 and lost their jobs/businesses in 2020. These people are missing car and rent payments and would take the max stimulus check and pump it back into the economy if they got it. If everyone was loaned the money, those who continued to do well in 2020 would have to give it back in 2021, those whose incomes tanked in 2020 could keep it.
I think this is a more fair and productive way to distribute the checks.

Maybe...I just think it would be a nightmare trying to 'see ahead' when income is based on the prior year.
I'm far from being knowledgeable in this area.

Why did some get direct deposit vs debit card?

Their statement says they went to people for whom they don't have banking information.

don't forget folks that got a paper check which is neither of the above.
I believe the answer is
"Standard governmental SNAFU"

My understanding is that this check should have been the same as the previous check. On the previous check, we got direct deposit. On this check, we got a paper check.

Right, if that's the case, then they lost our info in the last year.

I think it would be super simple. Everyone gets a stimulus LOAN check for the same amount ($1400 or whatever) in February 2021. There is no effort spent looking up what their last AGI was, which could be irrelevant anyway. Everyone gets the money.

In April 2022, when it's time to file 2021 taxes, anyone in a high tax bracket obviously didn't need the money, so the IRS claws it back. Whatever your tax bill is, you also pay back the stimulus money.

This is more helpful than basing the check on 2019 income. You could have had a good income in 2019 and be ineligible for the full amount of 2021 stimulus even if you lost your job and had no/little income in 2020/2021 and really needed the money.

There is a HUGE demographic out there who don't have checking accounts. Have you ever wondered why there are so many check cashing stores in low-income areas? Those folks don't pay federal income taxes anyway, so the IRS doesn't have their banking info. When the gov't. gives them money, they get paper checks or pre-loaded debit cards. The ones on SSDI or SS have a "Direct Express" debit card. Those folks often line up at the bank minutes before the doors open on the day their SS money is loaded onto the card, they withdraw it all in cash and then live on cash and pay bills with money orders. I deal with this crowd every single day. Without exception, the ones who have or had checking accounts have stories about how they were hacked and cleaned out and thus had to change accounts or just gave up on banks altogether. In the last few weeks I have run into plenty who did not get (but really, really needed) that $600 stimulus because they had changed banking info since the last time they got a gov't. check.

I was stunned when I first learned this. I wanted to pay a guy who worked part time for me with a check. He had no idea what to do with it. He is about 30 years old. His full time job is at a fairly large factory - not a fly by night outfit by any means. His employer pays workers by depositing their wages in a WalMart bank account. He pays for everything with a WalMart card.

In certain demographics, that wouldn't surprise me.
But in others, it seems really odd to me.

I think Wal-Mart cards go through Green Dot, which has routing and account numbers. But most of the folks who have them won't know that or that they can use those numbers for ACH/EFT payments/deposits. Unfortunately, the biggest bank around here is Chase, which does whatever the hell they want with ACH/EFT payment dates, no matter what date the customer has authorized payment. So a lot of those folks get crushed by NSF fees and just quit banking altogether.

If you are low income, banks offer nothing but additional costs.

Looks like the $1400 one is getting closer.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/your-1400-stimulus-checks-coming-within-a-week-of-approval-rep-jim-clyburn-153859538.html

Won’t get squat... again.

seems it's approved, but they haven't yet agreed on the details. They are also talking about reducing/eliminating the payment for high earners (but they haven't defined that yet).

That's not because of low income, it's because of low skills/intelligence. Plenty of good earners can't balance a checkbook and think, as long as they still have checks in their checkbook, they must still have plenty of money in their account.

I have checking and savings accounts with a credit union and a bank. Never paid a fee to either of them other than for a wire transfer once in a great while. No minimum balance required to avoid fees.

And since plenty of vendors like insurance and utility companies charge higher rates for not paying by ACH, I'd say not having a bank account offers nothing but extra costs. YMMV.