What Time Does Stimulus Check Deposit? Payments to Hit Millions of Accounts

Direct deposit third stimulus payments will be available to bank account holders by no later than 9 a.m. local time on March 17, according to NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association), which manages the ACH Network, the national automated clearing house for electronic funds transfers.

Banks and credit unions will receive around 90 million third stimulus payments from the IRS on March 17, according to the Independent Community Bankers of America, a banking industry group, based on a briefing from the IRS.

When will direct deposit payments be available?

"The Nacha Rules require the banks and credit unions to make the funds available to the account holders by 9:00 a.m. local time on the settlement date; again, in this case, March 17," NACHA said in a statement Monday.

The Internal Revenue Service said last Friday: "Some Americans may see the direct deposit payments as pending or as provisional payments in their accounts before the official payment date of March 17."

The first payment file from the IRS was transmitted on March 12 and "all recipients will have access to the money on Wednesday," NACHA said Monday.

"Regardless of when payment files were sent and received, settlement of the funds for the payments will occur at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, March 17, exactly as instructed by the IRS. This is literally the moment in time when the money will be transferred from the government to banks' and credit unions' settlement accounts at the Federal Reserve," NACHA explained.

Additional batches of third stimulus payments via direct deposit will be distributed in the coming weeks, as well as by mail as a check or a debit card. The "vast majority" of the third stimulus funds will be sent by direct deposit, according to the IRS.

What if I don't receive the direct deposit?

Those who don't receive their direct deposit payments should look out for either a check or a debit card in the mail, the IRS advises.

"To speed delivery of the payments to reach as many people as soon as possible, some payments will be sent in the mail as a debit card. The form of payment for the third stimulus payment may differ from the first two," the federal body says.

Those expecting to receive a third stimulus payment can check the status of their funds using the Get My Payment tool available at the IRS website, which is being updated on a regular basis.

The graphic below, produced by Statista, illustrates the composition of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package.