The coronavirus has made online banking even more essential as it has allowed people to make transactions and manage their bank accounts remotely. However, according to CNET's report, online banking is currently struggling because a large number of people have been logging in to check on their coronavirus stimulus checks. The report stated that Capital One, PNC Bank, and Chase are experiencing outages as a high number of IRS stimulus checks are set to hit accounts.
The United States reported that several banks are currently encountering issues with mobile and online banking on Wednesday, April 15, the same day that accounts are expected to receive the coronavirus IRS stimulus checks.
People have been reporting access issues and outages on the Twitter support pages or websites of the following banks: Chase, PNC Bank, Capital One, U.S. Bank and Navy Federal. Down Detector, a web outage monitoring site, also showed that a high number of outages on different online banking services, including those mentioned above, have spiked.
@AskCapitalOne I cannot access my accounts online. I've been trying for a few hours. Keep getting a message that there is a 'snag'. Is there an ongoing problem with the online service? — Karen Smith (@karen21029) April 15, 2020
The Navy Federal, including Chase and PNC Bank, have said they have been receiving a large volume of users that has been the cause of outages and other platform issues.
"Unprecedented volume of customers using these channels to check their accounts for Economic Impact Payments and other forms of financial hardship relief," said the spokesperson of PNC Bank, as reported on CNET. The situation has caused issues in customers' online banking access. She clarified that PNC Bank is currently working to resolve the concerns and outages as soon as possible.
On the other hand, the spokesperson of Chase reiterated that although they see an increased volume, their mobile apps and website are still online and without any outages. US Bank and Cash App representatives reported that their teams are currently working and investigating the issues encountered by their customers. "[We are] working to get things back up and running as quickly as possible," the spokeswoman of Capital One said.
Coronavirus Stimulus Check makes online banking struggle: How can you check your status?
According to a report of CNET, the "coronavirus stimulus check" is a one-time stimulus payment which is a part of the "2-trillion-dollar 2020 coronavirus relief package" that was developed to support people who have lost their jobs and suffered business downturns during the lockdown caused by the pandemic.
CNET reported on April 15 that 80 million Americans who set up direct deposit with the IRS were expected to receive their stimulus payments on the same day. However, CNET clarified that not all customers would receive the checks on the first day.
To check the status of the coronavirus stimulus check, an individual must visit the "IRS' Get My Payment Page" and click the blue button "Get My Payment" to check the status of their account.
Once an individual is on the next page, they need to click the "OK" button for authorization. After the second step, the customer needs to enter their Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Tax ID (ITIN), street address, date of birth, and postal or ZIP code on the "Get My Payment Page." Once all of these are done, the next page will show the user when they are scheduled to receive their coronavirus stimulus check.
