Not a fun way to ring in the weekend.
People with accounts at Navy Federal Credit Union — a Virginia-based credit union whose members (or their family members) are in the armed forces, Department of Defense or National Guard — tweeted angrily Friday morning when they found they could not see deposits in their accounts.
Some members seemed particularly distressed they could not see whether or not they actually received a paycheck on Friday.
“Navy Federal is playing games,” one Twitter user tweeted. “Give me my paycheck.”
“Navy Federal holding up people’s pay checks?” another tweeted. “I need an extra 100 for this.”
A few tweeters even threatened to switch to a different credit union or bank.
What made things worse: Navy Federal’s phone lines were also unavailable, which the credit union said was because of “high volume” in calls, and many tweeters reported they tried to call, but were unable to get through.
After several hours, Navy Federal tweeted that the issue had been resolved, and said the issue was a “delay in posting.”
Members are now able to see and access their deposits. You can view accounts via online & mobile. We apologize for the delay in posting and know this is a frustrating experience for our members. Our phone lines are still unavailable. We'll update here once they're back up.
— Navy Federal (@NavyFederal) February 22, 2019
The credit union also said in a statement: “This morning, members were unable to see deposits in their accounts. The issue has been resolved, and members can now use our mobile app or go online to access their accounts and services. We know this was a frustrating experience, and we apologize to our members.”
Before that, some members had been worried that they would not be able to pay bills that were due Friday, they tweeted.
That’s a familiar experience for many Americans, for whom missing a paycheck is no joke. Even those with high incomes often can’t afford to miss a paycheck.
According to a Nielsen study, 25% of families making $150,000 a year or more are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
And nearly one in four Americans (23%) has nothing socked away for an emergency, according to data released in 2018 from personal finance site Bankrate.
To be sure, Navy Federal has protected its members from missing paychecks in the past. During the government shutdown, the credit union offered interest-free loans to members, which went into their accounts by direct deposit.
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