Customers of a bank linked to Walmart are reporting they are still blocked from accessing their funds, leaving them in desperate financial straits.
Green Dot banking group customers say they have gone days, and in some cases weeks, with holds on their accounts. Green Dot also operates under the name Go2Bank and furnishes deposit and debit card services to Walmart customers.
Florida resident Mary Cannon said she’s still having trouble. Cannon has been unable to access her IRS tax refund of more than $7,000 since mid-July. She said there remains a suspicious-activity hold on her account that she believes is erroneous and that she has been unable to resolve with the bank.
“They giving me the runaround,” she said.
On Thursday, Green Dot displayed a message on its homepage saying it was experiencing high call volumes due to "an issue with one of our processing partners," adding that “some functionality, including balances and transactions, may have been impacted.”
After an inquiry from NBC News, a Green Dot spokesperson said in an email that there was no system or platform outage, and subsequently updated the message on its website.
That message no longer mentions a functionality issue, but says the bank is still experiencing high call volumes and that customers should try logging into their accounts via mobile or web to check balances or transactions, "or check back later when call volumes and wait times are lower."
Tennessee resident Sara Morgan has also been unable to access funds from, or make purchases through, her account for six days and counting.
"I’m beyond stressed," she said in an email. "[I'm] having to pay bills with credit cards. I don’t see how they can get away with not having alternative access for people to get their money."
UpDownRadar.com, which tracks web outages, was filled with customer complaints Friday, many of whom said they cannot access their funds. NBC News has not independently verified those claims.
The online-only Green Dot is a subsidiary of the Austin, Texas-based Green Dot Corp.
“With over 20 years in business & millions of satisfied customers, you can feel confident with Green Dot,” Walmart says on one of its webpages.
A Walmart representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
