How To Get Your Stimulus Money Back If It Was Lost And Used.
Due to my experience with having my EIP Card lost/stolen and being used I wanted to help others in similar situations. I have summed up what to do if this has ever happened to you. If you want to read about my experience you can read it here.
Note that this only works for EIP Cards issued by The Money Network and not physical checks.
What To Do If You Do Not Receive Your Stimulus Check/ EIP Card
- Check the IRS website to see if your Stimulus Check/EIP Card has been sent out by clicking the “Get My Payment” button. If it has been delivered and you haven’t received it, then move to the next step.
- Call The Money Network at 1–800–240–8100 and either talk to a representative to reissue a new card or request a new card from the phone line itself. You may request ONE new card for free if lost or stolen.
- If you receive your card and it has the full amount, then congratulations! If not, keep reading.
What To Do If Your EIP Card Was Used
If you created and logged onto your account and find out that your EIP card was used or that you don’t have the full amount then follow the steps I’ve listed below.
1. Call The Money Network and explain you are writing a dispute form and that you need a Case ID Number AND the Original Card Number (not the one reissued to you). I have written down the criteria for the dispute form below, but double-check with the representative as well. You may also request a dispute form template that they will mail you.
2. Create the dispute form. See Criteria below.
3. Fax the dispute form to 1–402–916–8249.
4. Call The Money Network a day later to make sure they received your dispute form and that the status is processing.
5. Follow up with the status of your dispute form every other week or so until it is approved or denied.
Note that The Money Network will ask for personal information to make sure you are who you say you are before handing out information.
Dispute Form Criteria
These criteria are non-negotiable
1. Handwritten on BLANK 8½ sheet paper, also known as copy paper, or handwritten on the dispute form template. If you use the dispute form you will still need to handwrite your explanation on another sheet of paper. 2.Write the ORIGINAL Card Number, NOT the reissued one. You will need to ask a representative at The Money Network for this number.
3. Write First and Last Name
4. Write Address, City, State, and Zip Code
5. Write Cell Phone Number
6. Write the date the dispute form is created
7. Write the Discovery Date of the charges on the card
8. Write Transaction of the charges on the card which include the date, amount, and merchant description (you can see this on the account you make with the new card).
9. Write the status of the CURRENT possession of the ORIGINAL EIP card. If you never received your original card then the status would be “Lost” or “Not In My Possession.”
10. Write a concise explanation of why this needs to be disputed. Write a backstory of what happens and make a convincing argument to prove that you were not the one who made the false charges.
Bonus Tips
As a bonus tip, print out your Google Mobile History if you have one. If you have Google Maps and your location settings are on then your phone will keep a history of where you have been. Go to the Google Maps website click the top left corner which has the symbol with 3 lines on top of one another, and click “Your Timeline.” From there you can designate which dates to show and Google will bring up your location history. You do not need to do this, but it won’t hurt. I printed out 6 pages of location history in addition to my dispute form and successfully got my dispute form approved.
In addition, if the account was used before you logged in chances are you will get emails with subject lines that say “Alert! Your Money Network Email Address has changed” and “Alert! Your Money Network Mobile Number has been changed.” This means that you are not the first account holder because you just made a FRESH NEW account, and did not update your email and mobile number. Include these in your dispute form to let the dispute team at The Money Network know that your account was used previously.
Other than my location history (because of location privacy), I have attached photos of my dispute form with the personal information redacted at the bottom.
Final Notes
Some things to take note of:
- The dispute can be approved or denied anywhere between 10 and 90 days
- To make a claim or inquiry, you must contact us within 60 days of whichever of the following occurred first:
- The date the first written account history was sent to you that contained the incident in question.
- The first date you electronically accessed your Account after the incident in question occurred.
The above note is taken from https://www.eipcard.com/resolution/
If you have any further questions then please comment on this article and I will answer to the best of my ability.
