Category: Direct deposit

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Coinbase will let you direct-deposit your paycheck and convert it to crypto

Monitors display Coinbase signage during the company's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market site April 14, 2021 in New York City.
A Coinbase signage during the company’s Nasdaq IPO on April 14, 2021 in New York.

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Coinbase Global on Monday unveiled a new feature that will allow users to deposit their paychecks directly into their accounts on the cryptocurrency exchange, further integrating digital assets into the realm of traditional banking.

The feature, which will roll out in the next weeks, will also allow the largest US crypto exchange to convert paychecks into any of the more than one hundred cryptocurrencies it has with no transaction fees. A limit applies, and users can also opt to keep their funds in US dollars.

“The future of payroll is coming,” Prakash Hariramani, senior director of product at Coinbase, said in a Monday blog post. “Get paid in crypto or in US dollars and deposit as much or as little of your paycheck as you want.”

Hariramani noted many reasons for the launch – from users wanting to make short- or long-term investments to their desire to earning interest on yield-generating assets. But the main goal is to make transferring funds easier and more convenient.

“Now, you’ll save time on the extra steps it takes to move money so you can immediately earn interest on your income,” he said in the blog post.

In setting up this feature, users do not have to leave the Coinbase app, he said. All they need to do is tap “direct deposit” in the settings, follow the instructions, and find their current payroll company or employer. Coinbase will then automatically update the paycheck allocation.

The company has partnered with Fortress Investment Group, M31 Capital, Nansen, and SuperRare Labs to launch this feature.

Coinbase, which went public in April, has been launching new offerings to disrupt the traditional way finance is done.

This led to its recent tussle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which has threatened to sue the cryptocurrency exchange over one of its products called Lend, a cryptocurrency lending program.

The exchange has since abandoned its lending plans but not before its founder and CEO Brian Armstrong in series of tweets described the SEC’s decision as “sketchy behavior.”

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Robinhood is preparing a new feature that will allow users to get their paychecks direct-deposited up to 2 days early

Robinhood on cellphone
Robinhood app

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  • Robinhood is preparing a new feature that would allow users to get their paychecks direct-deposited up to two days early.
  • It was discovered by developer Steve Moser, who first shared the news with Bloomberg.
  • For now, the feature is called Early Direct Deposit. The code suggests it will charge no fee.
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Robinhood Markets is preparing a new feature that would allow users to get their paychecks direct-deposited up to two days early as the mobile app strives to be the all-in-one destination for money matters, Bloomberg first reported Wednesday.

The feature, discovered by developer Steve Moser, was seen inside the beta version of an upcoming iPhone app.

For now, it is called Early Direct Deposit. The code suggests it will charge no fee. The new feature will be available within the app’s existing direct deposit feature.

“Now you can get paid up to two days early,” a message inside the app said. “Because eligibility depends on your employer, we’ll let you know if you can get paid early on your next pay cycle.”

Shares of Robinhood edged higher finished the day 0.6% higher after the report.

Moser is also the developer who discovered that feature that will let Robinhood users invest their spare change into select stocks back in July. He also shared this first with Bloomberg.

Features being tested do not always result in them being permanently rolled out. Still, the codes hint at how Robinhood is innovating and updating the service for its millions of active users.

The popular online trading platform has, in the past, said its long-term goal is to be known more than an investing app.

“What I tell you is that over the long-term, our attention is to be the single money app,” CFO Jason Warnick said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “That implies more products, more features, and innovation … We want to be the single place that our customers go to for all things money.”

If implemented, the new feature will rival existing ones from the likes of payments giant PayPal.

Another feature Moser recently discovered is voice verification. This will let users record their voices so they will be recognized and verified in future calls – a feature banks have had in place for several years.

Read more: Top 13 meme stocks this week on Reddit: Support.com makes the list again while Zoom and Robinhood generate buzz

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Parents could get a $300 check this week from the government thanks to the revamped child tax credit

Joe Biden
President Joe Biden.

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  • The IRS will start sending advance child tax credit payments on July 15.
  • Monthly payments for families will be issued until December, with the remainder sent at tax time.
  • It amounts up to $300 per child, depending on the age.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

The federal government is only three days away from kicking off what’s essentially a new child allowance program in the America.

It stems from a revamped child tax credit in President Joe Biden’s March stimulus law that widened the credit’s reach to families with no tax obligations, and bulked up the amount. Families can get a monthly $300 check for children ages 5 and under, and $250 for each child between 6 and 17.

The IRS noted that most families will receive the payments without having to do anything, and they should receive them through direct deposit, a paper check, or a debit card – similar to the three stimulus payments that the federal government sent over the past year.

Half of the amount will be divided into monthly payments issued from July until December. The remaining half will be provided at tax time next year. It will total $3,000 for kids between 6 and 17, and $3,600 for children under age 6.

Last month, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began notifying 36 million American families that they could be eligible to receive the monthly child tax credit.

Here’s when the IRS will distribute payments:

  • July 15
  • August 13
  • September 15
  • October 15
  • November 15
  • December 15

The White House estimates that 90% of families are eligible to get the credit. Researchers say it has the potential to put a major dent in child poverty as well.

Still, the IRS is scrambling to reach the lowest-income families who didn’t previously qualify for the child tax credit. At least 2.3 million children could be excluded from the child allowance, per a Treasury Department estimate.

A strong majority of Democrats in both the House and Senate are pushing to make the child tax credit changes permanent. Biden’s sprawling infrastructure package would extend it until 2025. After that, Congress would need to renew it.

“We must use this moment to pass the American Family Act and permanently expand and improve the child tax credit by increasing the benefit to families and providing payments monthly,” Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Rosa DeLauro said in a February statement. “Children and families must be able to count on this benefit long after the end of this pandemic.”

Still, some moderate Senate Democrats may push for cuts to the measure. At least one Democratic senator has expressed unease with checks going to households earning six figures.

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Treasury says it has issued 90 million direct payments – and Americans can start accessing their stimulus checks

coronavirus relief bill cares act stimulus check

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  • The Treasury Department said on Wednesday it’s already issued 90 million direct payments.
  • It means Americans can start accessing stimulus cash, including those with accounts at major banks.
  • Individuals earning up to $75,000 qualify for a full check from the federal government.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

The Treasury Department announced Wednesday it has distributed 90 million direct payments to Americans, and people can start tapping into their federal relief funds.

“The first batch of payments were mostly sent by direct deposit, which some recipients started receiving this past weekend,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. “As of today, all recipients of this first batch of direct deposit payments will have access to their funds.”

The 90 million federal payouts amounted to $242 billion, the Treasury said. It added that the first round of direct payments went to taxpayers who provided deposit information on their 2019 or 2020 tax returns. The federal government has also mailed 150,000 paper checks, the agency said.

The IRS and Treasury started distributing the $1,400 federal payments on Friday evening, only a day after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan into law.

However, customers at major banks like Wells Fargo had to wait for the government cash to be released on March 17 before being able to tap into the money.

Singles earning up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income qualify for the full amount, along with couples making up to $150,000. Each adult dependent is eligible for a check as well. But the stimulus payments diminish in size much more quickly. Individuals earning above $80,000 and couples making above $160,000 will receive zero.

People can track the status of their relief checks using the “Get my Payment” portal. The Treasury said that 35 million Americans had accessed the service for more information.

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Americans can start tracking the status of their $1,400 stimulus checks on Monday

stimulus check eligibility

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  • The IRS said people can begin tracking the status of their payments on Monday.
  • The initial batch of $1,400 checks has started landing into people’s bank accounts.
  • The IRS is moving swiftly to send out the checks as part of Biden’s stimulus law.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Americans are starting to see $1,400 stimulus checks land in their bank accounts this weekend under President Joe Biden’s stimulus law. But people who don’t get a direct payment right away won’t be left unaware of its arrival for much longer.

The IRS said on Friday that people can begin tracking the status of their checks using the “Get my Payment” portal on Monday. The agency also said it expects to issue more direct deposits and send payments as a check or debit card over the coming weeks.

The IRS also said a payment date will be announced for beneficiaries of Social Security and other safety net programs.

Singles earning up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income qualify for the full amount, along with couples making up to $150,000. Each adult dependent is eligible for a check, a change from the first two rounds of stimulus payments.

People earning above those thresholds can still receive a smaller direct payment. But eligibility is capped for individuals earning more than $80,000 and joint filers making above $160,000. They’ll get zero.

The swift arrival of the federal payments underscore the IRS’s improving ability to get cash out the door quickly, especially for people with direct deposit information in their systems.

Last year, Congress and former President Donald Trump approved $1,200 stimulus checks for most taxpayers. Those government payouts started going out in two weeks.

Then in December, $600 checks started going out within days of Trump signing an earlier pandemic relief package. It took around a month and a half for the IRS to distribute 147 million payments.

Biden touted the direct payments during his first primetime address on Thursday evening, timed to the first anniversary of the nation’s pandemic lockdowns. He said a family of four earning $110,000 can expect to receive $5,600 in cash benefits.

The federal government estimates this batch of direct payments will cost $411 billion.

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