You can deposit your Covid stimulus for free with Venmo

Venmo has just introduced a check-cashing feature to its popular mobile payment service, and in a magnanimous gesture, it’s also temporarily waiving the standard 1% fee for anyone collecting a covid stimulus control. TechCrunch reports that Venmo’s new Cash a Check service is being rolled out for select iOS and Android users as of this morning, and those users can now use the Venmo app to cash printed paymentsroll and US government checks, including covid stimulus checks, at no charge.

Eligible users must have an active Venmo account in good standing. Direct deposit or the Venmo debit card will also need to be activated, along with location services and a verified email address. Full details on how to cash a check with via Venmo are provided here. This is useful if your bank charges a fee for cashing checks or if you don’t have a bank account. (Venmo direct deposit requires a link to an account at a financial institution, but the Venmo debit card does not.)

Venmo’s check-cashing feature works the same as using mobile deposit through a banking app. Sign the back of your check, take a photo of the front and back and submit it. Venmo says the check approval process, which is handled by First Century Bank and Ingo Money, only takes seconds, although it can take over 3 to 5 minutes in some cases. In rare cases, it can take up to an hour. (Ingo Money is the same financial institution that manages check deposits for a similar function on PayPal app, The parent company of Venmo.)

If you haven’t set up your first covid stimulus payment to directly access your Venmo account, there’s unfortunately no way to change that for the second payment. Federal government no longer opens direct deposit portal, Venmo notes on its FAQ page. But if you expect a paper check to arrive in the mail, which the IRS started sending out on Wednesday, December 30, the new Cash a Check feature is one way to get around that problem.

Vaguely, Venmo does not provide a definitive end date for its free covid check cashing offer. In the fine print, the company says, “The offer ends when the cap of $ 400,000 has been reached.” It’s not clear if this is a bank hunch cap on these transactions or a government-imposed cap, but Venmo is perfectly clear that this is a term offer. limited. If you already have your $ 600 check in hand and want to keep that $ 6 processing fee, do so now.

If you don’t have your stimulus payment yet, go to Access the My payment portal on the IRS website and read a book, crochet a sweater, or bake a lasagna while you wait. The website is currently overloaded with requests and might take a while to open the portal, but once you are there it will let you know when your check has been or will be mailed.