YOU may be able to get a Covid ‘stimulus check’ from your auto insurer as pressure mounts on companies to pay their customers.
As the third round of stimulus checks started being sent out by the government this month, consumer advocates and state regulators have been putting pressure on providers- with some companies already agreeing to do so.
Restrictions during the pandemic have caused the overall driving to fall, meaning there has been a big increase in profit for auto insurers.
According to Yahoo Finance, Progressive has reported an 82% increase in net income, while Geico’s pretax earnings tripled during the second and third quarters of 2020.
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association has said that insurance providers gave out more than $14 billion in refunds and credits to policyholders, in response to the situation.
California’s insurance commissioner ordered providers to extend more discounts to auto policyholders in March.
Meanwhile, in a set of class-action lawsuits filed in Nevada in February, plaintiffs have claimed that ten leading auto insurers have kept premiums unreasonably high during the pandemic.
State Farm has already promised to give $400 in rebates and discounts to its customers.
Over 90million stimulus payments have been sent out via direct deposit to Americans, while over 150,000 paper checks have been mailed out.
Those eligible for the third stimulus payment have been told to keep an eye out for the envelope containing the money, either as a paper check or an EIP debit card.
And people have been advised to track their payments via the Internal Revenue Service’s Get My Payment tool.
However, a glitch left thousands of Americans frustrated as they received only half of their stimulus checks with no explanation.
There have also been couples who filed taxes together reporting they received only half of the stimulus payment.
Meanwhile, Americans struggling during the pandemic are calling for a fourth payment.
The online petition, signed by more than 45,700 people as of Monday afternoon, demands a fourth stimulus package for “struggling” Americans and claims that “recurring” checks are the only way “to recover from this crisis.”
In addition, a group of ten Democratic senators are urging the President to include more stimulus payments in the next bill.
