624,000 stimulus money cards haven't been activated (2024)

A cash pot of at least $125 million is sitting untouched because hundreds of thousands of people have not claimed the financial help issued to them, an analysis has revealed.

In California, 624,000 residents have not taken advantage of the inflation relief payments given out to all but the state's wealthiest residents. The first payouts were made in October 2022, and the scheme wound down in September 2023.

Officially called the Middle Class Tax Refund (MCTR), the one-off payment was designed to help Californians with the cost of living as inflation began to soar in 2022. The amount earmarked for each person varied according to individual circ*mstances but ranged from around $200 to up to $1,050.

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Some residents saw the cash deposited directly into their bank accounts, but others were sent debit cards loaded with the benefits—and more than half a million of these have yet to be activated.

An analysis by California's Franchise Tax Board (FTB) showed that a huge number of residents have so far failed to claim the money to which they are entitled, according to a report by Los Angeles TV station KTLA.

Some 7.2 million Californians received their MCTR payments directly into their bank accounts, so they had immediate access to the money, which totaled $4 billion.

But a further 9.6 million people were sent a special debit card in the mail, with those funds totaling $5.2 billion. So far, only 90 percent of these preloaded cards have been activated, and a further 3.5 percent were converted to checks, according to the FTB. That means that around 624,000 cards remain unused, with the money on those outstanding cards worth a total of $125 million, KTLA reported.

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The beneficiaries still have two years to activate the cards and claim their money, but they need to call FTB officials at 1-800-240-0223 to do so. They will be sent reminder letters, the FTB said. Those who think they have not received their card, or want to report that it was lost or stolen, should call the same number to be issued a replacement.

Of the cards that have been activated or used by the beneficiaries, more than half still have unused money in the account, the FTB said. Just 46 percent of the cards have a balance of zero.

Any unused benefits will no longer be available after the program expires on April 30, 2026.

It is unclear why more than half a million people have not claimed any of the money issued to them. But a Reddit discussion about the scheme over the weekend suggested various reasons.

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Some simply said they had not received their cards and had been unaware of the scheme. Others suggested people may not have fully understood what they'd been sent in the mail.

"California did a terrible job," one commentator alleged. "They sent them in these ratty cards that looked like those scam cards that people get sent all the time."

Another person said: "I know a lot of people who tossed them thinking it was a scam."

But others admitted they had received the cards and simply never got around to activating them. One person said: "I just forgot about it because it's a weird credit card sitting where I store excess mail. If it were a check I would have deposited it."

Some complained that they had suffered problems trying to access the money.

"It's been made impossible to collect," said one commentator. "First notice I got about not cashing it was met by a disconnected phone number. Second notice that I hadn't collected it, I gave it to my grandson and told [him] if you know how to jump through the hoops they placed in your way then you can have the money. Reason 600K haven't touched their money is the government has made it impossible to touch it!"

Another added: "Tried to use my card, and it got declined."

Newsweek has reached out to the FTB by email for further information about why so many people have failed to access their money, as well as comment on the allegations that the debit cards resembled "scam cards" or that the scheme has been difficult to access for some beneficiaries.