9,522 More Debt-Relief Refunds. Paper Checks Expire in 90 Days.
The FTC is sending another payment to Helping America Group recipients who accepted their second refund. Find your old notice, check mail from August 2026 onward, and read the deadline on any new check.
If you received and accepted the second Helping America Group debt-relief refund, 9,522 more payments are being sent to people in that group. The FTC’s August 2026 update puts this additional distribution at more than $463,000. An old case is producing another payment, and a paper check comes with a deadline.
Find the old refund, then check the new mail
Search your email and saved paperwork for “Helping America Group,” “JND,” and “debt relief.” Start with the refund notice associated with December 2021, when the FTC says it sent the second round. Then open the bank statements where you would have deposited that payment. Match the notice to the deposit rather than relying on a memory of receiving an envelope.
This step matters because the current update identifies recipients by an earlier action: they accepted their second payment. Having paid a debt-relief business is not, by itself, the eligibility test stated for this additional round. If your records are unclear, use them to ask about your status instead of assuming that a missing envelope proves you were excluded.
Next, look through mail and refund correspondence from August 2026 onward. Put any new payment notice beside the older one. Compare the case name and administrator details. If you find a check, read its issue date and printed expiration information before putting it back in the paperwork pile.
The FTC says to cash checks within 90 days. Its update gives a month for the distribution, not a single expiration date for every recipient. Do not calculate your deadline from the date of this article. Use the information on your own check, and ask the administrator if the date or instructions are unclear.
Open the official FTC refund page yourself if you need help. It lists 1-833-928-2567 for questions; the FTC’s original refund announcement identifies JND Legal Administration as the administrator. Have the earlier notice and any new check available. Ask whether another payment was issued to you, and how to handle it if your mailing address changed.
Already found an expired check? The FTC’s refund FAQ says a payment may be reissued if money remains in the settlement fund. That is a reason to call, not a promise of replacement. The same FAQ explains how to verify a payment through the agency’s refund directory. It says the FTC does not require an upfront fee or sensitive bank information to release a refund.
Why the case is paying again
According to the FTC and the Florida attorney general, the Helping America Group defendants promised to resolve debts and improve credit scores while collecting monthly payments. The agencies said consumers instead found their debts unpaid, their accounts in default, and their credit damaged. The FTC described those allegations in its original refund announcement.
The current refund page says the earlier distributions, in July 2020 and December 2021, returned more than $20 million. This additional round follows the agency’s recovery of more money from the defendants. The smaller new payment belongs to the same refund history; an earlier deposit does not make a later notice redundant.
Keep the new notice with the old one. Once the payment clears, record the amount and date beside the earlier refund. Until then, the envelope is a payment to finish collecting.