Well actually they've gotten them but they can't cash them.
Because they're also made out to the banks that hold their mortgages, and they aren't releasing the money.
Amid the clutter of stuff saved from the ground floor when Sandy came calling, Shelli Silberman is most grateful that no one in her family was hurt and that her piano survived.
Almost nothing else did.
The house is starting to come together now, no thanks to insurance.
The insurance checks came, these are copies, but they were made out to Shelli and her mortgage company and the mortgage company hasn't given her any of it yet.
Ivan Delian, lives right down the street, and he has the same problem.
Governor Cuomo is trying to pressure the banks into giving the people their money so they can rebuild.
Tuesday he released a list of the banks that are not doing an adequate job, and third on the list is Astoria Federal, the bank Ms. Silberman uses.
Astoria released a statement saying, they're trying to do better: "We also recently adjusted our policy and release 75% of all insurance claim funds, in order to accelerate disbursements."
But that's not what they told Ms. Silberman.
So far she's used her own money to get started, but the contractors want to know they're going to be paid before they do any more work.
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