Don’t throw away that debit card that just arrived in the mail — it could be your coronavirus stimulus payment.

In order to expedite the issuance of stimulus payments, the Treasury Department decided to send out to 4 million people debit cards instead of checks.  The problem is that most people were looking for a check and thought the debit card was junk mail.  The cards arrive in a plain envelope from “Money Network Cardholder Services,” according to the IRS, with the name of the issuing bank, MetaBank, N.A., on the back.  The card doesn’t show it is from the federal government but the envelope does state that it is being sent on behalf of the Treasury Department.

If you do throw the card away, you can get a replacement by calling customer service at 1-800-240-8100, according to EIPCard.com, which provides information on how to use the cards. While the cardholder agreement says it costs $0 to replace the card the first time, there is a $17 charge for priority shipping of the new card.

Another problem some people are encountering is that the card does not reflect their name, but a variation of both their own and spouse’s name.  There could be an easy workaround.

Try Activating Using The Mismatched Information:
If you received a card with a mismatched name, your best bet is to try and activate it using the social security number and name of the person whose first name appears on the card. In its responses to frequently asked questions, Money Network says that “in a few instances, the first name of one payee is linked to the last name of a second payee on the card. For mismatched names, the payee with the first name on the first line may activate the Card and will not impact the ability to use your Card.”

If you are able to activate the card using this method, then you are all set.  You may want to immediately transfer the entire balance to your bank account if you have one. You can do this by going online to EIPCard.com (or using the Money Network Mobile App), and inputting the routing number and account number for your bank account (note that there is a $2,500 cap to how much you can transfer per day). If you aren’t able to activate your card with the mismatched information, you may need to request that Money Network issue you a new card with the correct name. Call customer service at 1-800-240-8100 and request a new card.

Contact cares@brinkersimpson.com if we can be of assistance to you.

Sources: Shahar Ziv, Forbes and Alicia Adamczyk, CNBN.Com