Some people left frustrated by IRS “Get My Payment” site

People eager to find out when they would collect their federal stimulus check flocked to the IRS’s new “Get My Payment” service after it launched on Wednesday. But many are expressing confusion and concern after the site told them that the status of their payment wasn’t available. 

Jason Hale, 25, of Oak Park, Illinois, said he went on the tax agency’s website early this morning to check on the status of his payment after hearing from friends that they had received the funds. But instead of getting information on when it would be deposited, a message on the site read: “Payment status not available.”

“I thought, ‘Maybe try it a different way. Maybe lower case’,” he said. But after a few attempts at entering information, the site locked him out, indicating that he could try again in 24 hours. “It was very frustrating.”

Hale tweeted about his experience and received hundreds of responses, with many people saying they’d received the same message. Others contacted CBS MoneyWatch to express frustration about getting locked out of the “Get My Payment” service or being told that the status of their funds wasn’t available.

According to a statement from the Treasury Department, the “Payment status not available” message means the IRS “cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time. For example, you didn’t file either a 2018 or 2019 tax return, or you recently filed and the return has not been fully processed.” 

For example, taxpayers who recently filed their 2019 returns might not find information regarding their stimulus payment because the IRS is still processing their returns.

Hale said he has filed both his 2018 and 2019 returns and has already received his 2019 tax refund. Although he hasn’t lost his job with the Democratic party of Illinois, he said the check would help pay bills and build up his savings in case he loses income or work. 

The IRS and Treasury created the tracking website and are disbursing the “economic impact payments” less than three weeks after the $2 trillion stimulus bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump. Yet during that time, millions of workers have lost their jobs, with almost 17 million Americans filing for unemployment in just a month. 

One of those is Cody Brooks, 23, of Huntsville, Texas, who recently lost his job at a furniture removal company because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He was able to access the “Get My Payment” site, only to learn that his money had been deposited in an account that he didn’t recognize. He checked the numbers on his current and older bank accounts, but they didn’t match. His mother, meanwhile, received the “Payment status not available” message. 

“I need it for bills. I’ve got to pay for my house, insurance, food and my mom now because she doesn’t have any money,” Brooks said. 

He said he hasn’t been able to file for unemployment because the Texas unemployment website asks workers to call its office and the phones have been constantly busy. To make ends meet in the short term, Brooks plans to dip into savings he’d put away for when he starts school at the University of Houston this fall. 

For some people, ensuring they’d gotten their stimulus money didn’t end with confusing messages from “Get My Payment.” Customers also reported problems accessing their banks online, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions. according to Downdetector.com. Online banking services at BB&T and SunTrust also went down Wednesday, the Charlotte Observer reported.