File Photo / Tim Greenway
Patricia Weigel, president and CEO of Norway Savings Bank
Updated: April 16, 2020
Maine banks recovering after stimulus checks create online traffic jams
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Kennebec Savings Bank had a heavy traffic day online and at its drive-up window in Augusta on Wednesday.
Online traffic jams caused disruptions at a number of Maine banks on Wednesday, as customers checked accounts for their federal stimulus checks. But by Thursday, many financial institutions were back to normal.
The first round of $1,200 checks, to more than 80 million Americans, were automatically deposited into accounts of those who filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return that has been processed, and had direct deposit arrangement in place for refunds.
In Maine, the spike in online activity led to system slowdowns and freezes.
Andrew Silsby, president and CEO of Kennebec Savings Bank, said that Wednesday's extreme call and online volume caused that institution's entire system to go down.
"It’s intermittent, while some customers are able to get through or sign in to our system, others can’t right now," he said late Wednesday morning. "The IRS website is really the best source for information go for answering the if, when and how much questions on these stimulus payments. Unfortunately, I am hearing their site is overwhelmed at the moment, too."
By Thursday morning, he reported that things were better: "As soon as the extreme volume subsided last night, our systems reliably came back, and are fully functioning today."
Gregory Dufour, president and CEO of Camden National Bank, reported a similar situation there on Day 1 of the stimulus checks.
"Like many financial institutions across the country, we have seen a surge in customers accessing their digital platform," he said. "It’s unprecedented volume, which has resulted in intermittent access issues."
On Thursday, he told Mainebiz that things had gotten back to normal around noon Wednesday, when there outages across many banks and systems nationwide.
Chris Fitzpatrick, executive vice president for business banking at Machias Savings Bank, also reported that Wednesday's call volume there had reached record levels, with online systems stressed and working intermittently.
Though the situation had improved by mid-morning, he said Machias extended its drive-up hours until 8 p.m. last night to "make sure our customers would have access to the funds they needed" right away.
There were similar hiccups at Norway Savings Bank.
"Yes, like the vast majority of banks across the country, we, too, have experienced some inconsistency and slowness in our mobile banking services today," said Patricia Weigel, president and CEO.
On the plus side, she said the slowness did not have an impact on the bank's website and online banking, adding: "Fortunately, our technology vendor has responded quickly by adding processing capacity today, and additional capacity is expected over the coming weeks as more stimulus payments are received by the bank."
Bangor Savings Bank was a notable exception, with spokeswoman Kate Rush saying that as of late morning Wednesday, she was not aware of any issues and all systems were go.
There also appeared to be no major issues at Maine credit unions, according to Jennifer Burke, a spokeswoman for the Maine Credit Union League.
She also noted that Spectrum had been reporting some challenges in New York, which might in turn result in challenges for institutions with hubs there.
"But, that’s really a question for our banking counterparts with institutions in those states and in Maine," she added.
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