Bank Sites Deluged With Stimulus Payment Status Checks

Some U.S. banks are experiencing website issues Wednesday (April 15) as customers log on to see if their stimulus payment has been deposited.

ThousandEyes, a San Francisco internet and cloud intelligence company, told PYMNTS its tests confirmed the issue isn’t with the web or with increased network demand. Instead, the problem appears to be with the apps themselves.

“We put out a tweet with a sample screenshot to demonstrate the issue and impact,” Angelique Medina, the company’s director of marketing, said in an email. “ThousandEyes tests show that the network is clean and not the source of the disruptions, suggesting issues are at the application layer.”

Downdetector, a global company that tracks troubles with websites and mobile apps, tweeted that Bank of America, PNC, Capital One, TD Bank, Santander, Ally, SunTrust Bank, Wells Fargo, US Bank, City and Chase, among other financial institutions, were having troubles.

The Charlotte Observer reported online banking services at SunTrust and BB&T Bank were down Wednesday as customers logged on to their checking accounts in search of the federal payment of $1,200, $2,400 or more from the federal government.

The payments to individuals are part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump nearly three weeks ago.

Many of those payments, aimed at relieving the economic impacts of the coronavirus, arrived Wednesday via direct deposit to taxpayers. The report said the stimulus payments that were deposited on Wednesday came on what is typically payday for many workers. The added volume put a strain on the system.

Kyle Tarrance, a spokesman for the Charlotte banks, which merged last year to become Truist, told the newspaper they are “working as quickly as possible to restore all services.”

Also on Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced it has launched a “Get My Payment” tool to enable filers to check on their relief money from the federal economic stimulus bill.