Direct deposit of the stimulus checks started yesterday (April 12th). There are only so many payments they can process in one day so it will take many weeks to complete the direct deposit of payments.
I have heard from an unofficial source that for people without direct deposit info on record with the IRS, paper checks will start on May 4th. Paper checks are more time-consuming to process so it could take until August to issue all the paper checks.
Want to track your payment?
To help everyone check on the status of their payments, the IRS is building a new tool expected to be available for use by April 17. The tool is called Get My Payment and will provide people with the status of their payment, including the date their payment is scheduled to be deposited into their bank account or mailed to them.
Want Direct Deposit instead of a paper check?
An additional feature on Get My Payment will allow eligible people a chance to provide their bank account information so they can receive their payment more quickly rather than waiting for a paper.