Weekly jobless $300 bonus and 4 other stimulus benefits will RUN OUT if we don’t get Covid relief bill by Christmas
WITH no agreement on a new stimulus package in sight and just four days away from Election Day, there are five key stimulus benefits that will run out if we don’t get a Covid relief bill by Christmas.
The CARES Act was passed in March and it provided financial assistance to millions of Americans who were left unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The act included benefits such as a $1,200 stimulus check and a $600 weekly unemployment bonus.
After the unemployment bonus reached its end in July, President Donald Trump signed four executive actions extending the program to some degree.
However, all the most significant stimulus programs are expected to expire on Dec. 31, 2020.
Unemployment benefits
Individual states handle unemployment claims by determining if a person is eligible, and how much they’ll receive and for how long.
The benefits vary from state to state, but the CARES Act extended the duration of the benefits from 26 weeks to 39 weeks.
However, on January 1, those additional 13 weeks provided by the federal government will be gone.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program provided economic relief to those who typically wouldn’t qualify for unemployment.
Self-employed workers, contractors and gig workers all fell under this category.
However, the PUA is set to end on Dec. 31 and if the federal government doesn’t extend it – it will be up to the states to determine they can step in at the start of the New Year.
$300 weekly unemployment benefit bonus
The CARES Act provided an extra $600 weekly unemployment bonus at the peak of the pandemic.
The bonus expired on July 31 and in August, President Trump signed an executive memo to provide a $300 weekly bonus – for a week period, with expectations of another stimulus package being passed soon.
However, another stimulus package hasn’t been passed and all but eight states have exhausted the six weeks of extra funding.
The $300 bonus is set to end on Dec. 27.
Eviction Moratorium
The CARES Act provided limited protection on evictions by only focusing on homes backed with a federal mortgage loan or households that received some type of federal assistance.
The Center for Disease Control expanded the protections in September and called for a halt on evictions.
However, the order by the CDC did not cover more household, which included renters in 43million households.
The protection is set to expire on Dec. 31.
Student loan deferment
Students who are paying off their student loans also received a break from the CARES Act.
The plan allowed students to defer their loan payments, without the accrual of interest, until the end of September 2020.
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In August, President Trump extended the deferment until Dec. 31.
So on Jan. 1, loan servicers will once again be able to charge interest on those loans and students will have to find some way to continue paying them.