This was done for a logistical reason so companies could get money in days/weeks not months. Stimulus checks just go blindly out. Tax refunds have a system that

This was done for a logistical reason so companies could get money in days/weeks not months. Stimulus checks just go blindly out. Tax refunds have a system that has been in place for years. Making random payments to random people/companies has no parallel. The government doesn't have staff to look at payroll receipts, etc. to determine how much a company should get. Banks do this all the time and have the systems to handle it. Also, people already have LOCs and other relationships with their banks. Banks weren't lending because the loans would be risky so the government said will cover any losses up to X and people started getting money that week. In the future, we'll have better systems for this kind of thing but we don't have them today. The bank plan was the most expedient one.