WASHINGTON — Navy Federal Credit Union customers found empty account balances Thursday morning as the credit union said they were having problems with banking and direct deposits — and members weren’t able to get through to them on the phone either.
The credit union said on Twitter Thursday that online and mobile banking were still working, and said “Be assured your accounts are safe.”
We’re experiencing a delay with deposits today and we’re working through a solution. Be assured your accounts are safe.
Currently members are unable to call to speak with representatives. Online and mobile banking are available. We’ll share updates here as we work to resolve.
— Navy Federal (@NavyFederal) December 20, 2018
Navy Federal Credit Union patron Allen Church, 35, of Arlington, Virginia, told WTOP that he got a direct deposit from his employer, the World Bank, on Wednesday, and did some Christmas shopping online.
At about 3 a.m. Thursday, he said, he got a notification from the Navy Federal app on his phone. “I opened up my phone to find out that I had zero dollars and zero cents in my account. … A bunch of the Christmas gifts I had ordered were declined due to insufficient funds.”
He found no messages on the credit union’s website, and only got information through the Navy Federal Facebook page, where he found that “hundreds” of people were in the same spot. One said he was “denied for a .99 coffee at Wawa,” while others counseled patience: “Just remember Navy Federal was there for us when there was a government shutdown, Navy Federal still paid us.”
At about 12:30 p.m., Navy Federal tweeted that everything was back to normal. A Navy Federal spokesman said in a statement, “Some of our members began experiencing a delay in posting deposits. At this time, all deposits are back to normal. Members with account specific questions can visit a branch, call our contact center or use online and mobile banking.”
He later added, “We can confirm that all deposits are now accurate.” As for the possibility that anyone would be charged overdraft fees due to the problems, the spokesman said, “Any resulting fees will be waived.”
Church added that he “used to work in the cybersecurity realm” and was affected by the massive Equifax breach, so he’s “not really confident that my information is secure,” he said.
WTOP’s Teddy Gelman contributed to this report.
