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Online banking struggles as people check for coronavirus stimulus checks

Chase, Capital One, PNC Bank and others have reported outages or other issues, as IRS stimulus checks are set to hit accounts.

Alison DeNisco Rayome Managing Editor
Managing Editor Alison DeNisco Rayome joined CNET in 2019, and is a member of the Home team. She is a co-lead of the CNET Tips and We Do the Math series, and manages the Home Tips series, testing out new hacks for cooking, cleaning and tinkering with all of the gadgets and appliances in your house. Alison was previously an editor at TechRepublic.
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Alison DeNisco Rayome
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Will your money arrive electronically on Wednesday?

Angela Lang/CNET

Several banks across the US reported trouble with online and mobile banking Wednesday -- the same day that coronavirus IRS stimulus checks are expected to hit bank accounts of those eligible.  

Banks including Chase, Capital One, PNC Bank, US Bank and Navy Federal, as well as the app Cash App, have all reported outages or access issues on Twitter support pages or their websites. Web outage monitoring site Down Detector also shows a spike in outages for these and other online banking services. 

PNC Bank, Navy Federal and Chase said they were seeing increased volume on Wednesday that was causing issues for some customers. 

A spokeswoman for PNC Bank said customers have experienced intermittent access because of "unprecedented volume of customers using these channels to check their accounts for Economic Impact Payments and other forms of financial hardship relief." She added that PNC is working quickly to address the issue. 

A spokesperson for Chase said it's seeing increased volume but stressed that its website and mobile apps haven't experienced an outage.

Representatives for Cash App and US Bank said their teams are investigating the issue. A spokeswoman for Capital One said the bank is "working to get things back up and running as quickly as possible."

Over 80 million Americans who have set up direct deposit with the IRS are expected to receive their coronavirus stimulus payments of up to $1,200 by the end of the day. Everyone else will get their check in the mail. 

In the meantime, you can find out if you're you're eligible for a coronavirus stimulus check, how to track your coronavirus stimulus check and how to save money before your check comes.

Watch this: Coronavirus stimulus checks: Everything you need to know

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