The late Elouise Cobell meets President Barack Obama at the White House. December 8, 2010. Official Photo by Pete Souza

The money is here -- Indian beneficiaries across the nation are cashing their share of the final payment from the $3.4 billion Cobell trust fund settlement.

A bank owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana saw a steady stream of customers on Thursday. Some $647,000 was deposited or cashed by about 500 people in just several hours, KLXF reported.

"We had a houseful of people cashing checks yesterday," Eagle Bank president Martin Olson told KXLF.

Beneficiaries in Anadarko, Oklahoma, started lining up at a convenience store early Thursday morning. The Step-N-Fetchum was charging a 5 percent fee to cash checks, according to a local resident, and eventually ran out of money, the person said on Facebook.

“We’ve been waiting for quite a while for that,” one recipient told KFO, “and we do deserve it, you know.”

“So it does help, but it’s a pathetic token,” Pam Eagleshield added.

After a long wait, the Garden City Group -- the firm that was appointed by the court to administer the settlement -- started sending out the checks on Monday. It could take 5 to 7 days for the payments to arrive in mailboxes but some beneficiaries received theirs as early as Wednesday.

Overall, some 493,000 checks have been sent out. The payments total $941.6 million, according to a motion that was filed in federal court last week.

The baseline payment for the Trust Administration Class will be $869, according to the motion. But many beneficiaries will receive more, depending on the level of activity in his or her Individual Indian Money (IIM) account.

At least one person will receive about $10 million, according to a May report from the Associated Press.

The first payment from the settlement went out on December 2012. Every eligible beneficiary received a $1,000 check as part of the Historical Accounting Class.

Get the Story:
Montana tribal members begin receiving Cobell settlement checks (KXLF 9/18)
Native Americans line up to cash government settlement checks (KFOR 9/18)
Native Americans getting final Cobell payments (The Great Falls Tribune 9/18)

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Cobell settlement checks landing in Indian Country mailboxes (9/18)
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Checks from final payment of Cobell settlement put in the mail (9/16)
Jay Daniels: Still waiting on that final Cobell settlement payment (9/15)
Sen. Tester applauds approval of final Cobell settlement payout (9/12)
Judge approves motion to distribute Cobell settlement payment (9/11)
Native Sun News: Final Cobell payment might 'almost' be ready (9/11)
Final payments from Cobell settlement closer to being distributed (09/04)
Tim Giago: Greedy lawyers and government ruin Cobell settlement (08/27)