Check Your Bank Account. Your $1,400 Stimulus Check May Have Arrived

If you’re waiting on your third stimulus check, St. Paddy’s Day could be your lucky day. Although the IRS started issuing payments over the weekend, for tens of millions of people Wednesday, March 17 is the day those $1,400 payments will actually appear in bank accounts. Here’s exactly when you can expect to see your third stimulus check.

Why You Still Haven’t Gotten Your Third Stimulus Check

The IRS started making payments last Friday, just one day after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law. But you probably didn’t see that money until Wednesday, March 17.

That’s because the National Automated Clearing House Association, which oversees direct deposits for many banks and credit unions in the U.S., allows the sender — here, the IRS — to determine when the funds will become available. The IRS chose March 17 for its first round of payments in this case.

Online bank Chime and banking apps Current and Square’s Cash App didn’t wait for funds to settle. They made stimulus checks available to users over the weekend. But the vast majority of banks require you to wait until the official payment date to access funds.

At 8:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, those funds will clear, meaning they’ll officially be sent from IRS coffers into bank accounts. Banks and credit unions are required to make those funds available to customers at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

That means tens of millions of people with up-to-date direct deposit information will have their third stimulus check in their bank account at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Who Won’t Get a Stimulus Check on March 17?

This is just the first round of payments for the third stimulus check, so don’t panic if yours hasn’t arrived yet. You can track your check using the IRS Get My Payment feature. Information only updates once a day, though, and it’s often slow given the high demand.

If you’ve closed the account the IRS has on file for you, expect to wait a couple of weeks. You can’t update banking information through the IRS website. Your old bank will reject the deposit and send it back to the IRS. Then you’ll receive your payment in the mail, either as a check or prepaid debit card.

People who received the first two stimulus checks in the mail will most likely get this round in the mail, too. The IRS hasn’t announced when it will start mailing payments, but it’s expected to start sending them by the end of March.

Robin Hartill is a certified financial planner and a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She writes the Dear Penny personal finance advice column. Send your tricky money questions to [email protected].