Pressure Mounts to Protect Virus Stimulus From Debt Collectors (1)

The Treasury Department and IRS are facing increasing pressure to make sure that debt collectors don’t get access to relief checks included in the federal government’s coronavirus response.

Democratic attorneys general from 26 states sent a letter Monday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking him to designate relief checks under the federal stimulus law as exempt from garnishments, effectively cordoning them off from private debt collectors.

Other direct payments from the federal government, like Social Security payments, are already given such protections to ensure that money meant to pay for rent and food doesn’t go to debt collectors.

The letter ...