If you are interested in financial independence, you know you need to watch and manage your money beyond a new $600 stimulus check. You need to know what else is in the new Covid stimulus bill. Here are the new Covid stimulus bill details you need to manage your money.
New Covid Stimulus Bill Breakdown
New Covid Stimulus Checks
By now, you have probably heard about the new $600 stimulus checks, and the fight over whether or not to get $2,000 stimulus checks. Mitch McConnell has blocked $2,000 stimulus checks and runs the Senate like he is the King of the Senate, so that means there is no debate, no compromise, and not chance of $2,000 stimulus checks coming, so don’t bother worrying about that.
The $600 is per person, and includes children. So, if you are married with two kids, you can look for $2,400 stimulus checks. It works the same as last time with the IRS using your direct deposit information. If you did something to fix your direct deposit info last time, it should stay fixed for this time as well.
There are income phaseouts again to keep the payments from going to higher-income earners. Couples making over $150,000 will see reduced or eliminated payouts, while the same will happen for those filing single at $75,000.
Remember that is is based upon your adjusted gross income (AGI), just like last time.
Yet another reason to keep your AGI as low as possible with deductions and pretax deductions like your 401k plan.
No New Covid Stimulus Bill Student Loan Deferments
If you’ve got student loans, your number one concern, even more than new stimulus payment checks is whether or not the student loan provisions were extended. Unfortunately, there are no student loan benefits included in the new December Covid stimulus bill.
Unless something changes, all student loan features go back to normal on January 1, 2021. That means you have to start making student loan payments again, and they will be charging you interest on your student loans again.
This could change. The original student loan benefits were implemented by executive order, and only later coded into law. So, theoretically either President Trump, or President Biden could reinstituted student loan help in January.
New Covid Unemployment Benefits
There are new unemployment benefits in the December Covid bill, but Republicans felt that continuing the $600 in additional unemployment was too generous. The extra $600 in unemployment was cut in half to an extra $300 per week in unemployment. There is also an extra $100 available to workers who have both salary and self-employment income, but whose SI income doesn’t count when calculating unemployment.
This higher unemployment insurance payout ends on March 14, 2021, unless extended again. Planning your finances does not include guessing, so plan on March 14, if you are currently unemployed.
The bill also increases the maximum number of weeks you can claim unemployment to 50 weeks.
New PPP Loans
There are new PPP loan dollars available to small businesses. Congress tried to correct some of the most egregious abuses from the last program. There is a way to get in on these dollars if you own your own business, or are self-employed as well, so check into these loans if that applies to you.
New Covid Stimulus Rental Assistance
If you have rent that is past due, there is new rental assistance included in the latest Covid relief bill. Congress left most of the details of the latest rental assistance up to the states, so applying, qualifying and getting the new rental assistance will vary from state to state.
This new rental assistance is a big deal not just to renters, but also to rental property investors. While it is easy to paint all landlords as cash-flush millionaires, the truth is that many landlords rely on rent payments to pay the mortgages on their rental properties.
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In fact, the most common type of landlord is someone who owned their own home, bought a new home without selling their original home, and then rented the new home out. According to HUD and the Census, such “mom and pop” landlords account for 73% of “small” rental properties.
Without the rental income, these real estate investors can’t pay the mortgage on the rental property, potentially triggering a difficult situation where they cannot evict or collect rent from a tenant, all while their own mortgage is in danger of foreclosure.
There is also an extension until January 31, 2021 for the CDC eviction moratorium.
No Surprise Medical Bills
Finally able to shake off lobbying from private equity funds that turn buying medical practices into price-gouging cash cows by pulling them from most health insurance networks, the bill includes a ban on surprise medical bills.
It makes it illegal for hospitals to charge patients for emergency treatment by out-of-network doctors without notification, or in the event in-network providers are available. This provision doesn’t take effect until 2022 though, so do not let your guard down.
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