Here's What You Need to Remember: For those Americans who have fallen behind on their mortgages, be aware that eligible homeowners can tap into the nearly $10 billion Homeowners Assistance Fund (HAF), which provides direct cash payments to states, territories, and tribes to financially support their respective property owners.

From petitions to surveys and polls, what cash-hungry Americans say they desperately want is another round or two of coronavirus stimulus checks.

Although the White House and Congress have stayed mostly silent on the issue, do know that President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan is still in the process of disbursing other “stimulus” payments to struggling Americans—and more will be on the way in the coming weeks.

In recent days, perhaps the most talked-about government-issued cash windfall is from the expanded child tax credits, which will allow eligible parents to collect as much as $3,600 per year for a child under the age of six and up to $3,000 for children between ages six and seventeen. This all means that a $250 or a $300 direct cash payment for each child will head into the bank accounts or mailboxes of parents beginning July 15 every month till the end of 2021.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, an estimated eighty percent of all eligible households will receive their monthly payments via direct deposit because they already have their necessary information on file at the tax agency. For those who don’t, they need to enter their information on a portal designed for the credits or file a tax extension and complete their returns by October 15.

Another potentially sizeable payment is from the tax refunds from 2020 unemployment benefits. Earlier this month, the tax agency began rolling out nearly three million refunds to eligible individuals, and there is chatter that another batch could be released in the coming days.

“The IRS plans to issue the next set of refunds in mid-June,” the agency writes. “The review of returns and processing corrections will continue during the summer as the IRS continues to review the simplest returns and then turns to more complex returns.”

For those Americans who have fallen behind on their mortgages, be aware that eligible homeowners can tap into the nearly $10 billion Homeowners Assistance Fund (HAF), which provides direct cash payments to states, territories, and tribes to financially support their respective property owners.

“The purpose of the Homeowner Assistance Fund is to prevent mortgage delinquencies and defaults, foreclosures, loss of utilities or home energy services, and displacement of homeowners experiencing financial hardship after January 21, 2020,” the Treasury Department says on its website. “Funds from the HAF may be used for assistance with mortgage payments, homeowner’s insurance, utility payments, and other specified purposes.”

Also, know that help is out there for renters as well. The government has already earmarked $46 billion for this endeavor, and eligible Americans could potentially be on the receiving end of $25,000 to cover both missed and future rent for up to eighteen months.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn. This article first appeared earlier this year.

Image: Reuters