Some Service Credit Union customers unexpectedly lost large sums of money from their account after transactions caused the reversal of a temporary credit the financial institution had automatically provided to customers whose pay had been suspended. (Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Almost as quickly as Sabrina Holly’s service-related monthly disability payment hit her checking account, about 75% of it was wiped out.

Service Credit Union’s withdrawal of more than $3,000 from her account on Monday caused an unexpected drop in her balance at the end of a spartan month for federal civilians like Holly, who aren’t getting paid due to the ongoing government shutdown.

Holly’s direct deposit of disability benefits triggered the credit union’s system to take back a onetime payroll credit extended to more than 20,000 members in early October following the partial shutdown of the U.S. government on Oct. 1.

“They have been taking people’s retirement and disability checks, which we have been depending on for rent, for food, for daycare,” said Holly, who works in finance for the Army in Wiesbaden but is now on furlough.

She said she’s fortunate her landlord isn’t demanding rent until the shutdown ends.

The program was intended to give a financial boost to U.S. service members and Defense Department civilians who bank with the institution, in anticipation of members losing out on mid-October pay, a Service Credit Union spokesman said this week.

The automatically provided credit was calculated by averaging a member’s direct deposit totals over the past three months, according to an Oct. 8 message, which added that “the credit will then be reversed once payroll has resumed.”

Credit reversals began after the executive branch announcement that pay was resuming for active-duty service members, according to a Service Credit Union statement Wednesday.

But while military personnel received a paycheck on Oct. 15, furloughed and excepted DOD civilians did not.

Service Credit Union’s system could not “differentiate between active-duty and Department of Defense civilian employees, which is why the program was applied broadly to those with impacted direct deposits,” the statement said.

Service Credit Union did not immediately respond to questions about what amount or types of transaction would cause its system to act as if a DOD civilian’s regular paycheck had been restored.

“This reversal process has been a standard part of this program for years and was communicated to our membership prior to the posting of this credit,” the statement added.

Stars and Stripes spoke with four people who disputed that. Holly was among them, as was Chase Szente, a civilian employee at Ramstein Air Base who has worked without pay and benefits since Oct. 1

Szente said the credit “was a really happy surprise” that turned into “a kick in the shins.”

He said he used the money as a stopgap to pay bills, thinking he didn’t have to worry about paying it back until the government reopened, since he had been told the credit would be reversed “once payroll resumes.”

A notification sent by Service Credit Union informed customers whose pay had been suspended during the government shutdown that they would automatically receive a temporary credit. Some Defense Department civilians say the credit was unexpectedly reversed after transactions that triggered the credit union’s system into acting as if direct deposit of their paychecks had resumed. (Courtesy)

On Oct. 16, funds that he transferred from savings to stay afloat were deposited in his account. Szente said that as soon as the transfer cleared, he received a message from Service Credit Union that since his balance “now reflects sufficient funds, we will be reversing this temporary credit today.”

“I was like, ‘Wait, what the hell?’ It was gone,” he said. “They didn’t even leave me enough in my account to pay my rent or anything else coming up.”

Szente said he was fortunate that his car loan payment and other bills weren’t immediately due, so he had time to transfer more money into his account. Otherwise, he said, his account would have been overdrawn.

“I’m worried that it affected other people,” he said. “Had they just told me a day or two in advance, I would have been more prepared.”  

Wednesday’s statement from Service Credit Union said members who are still “negatively impacted by the shutdown” or having account issues are encouraged to seek assistance from a representative.

“We remain dedicated to supporting these members,” the statement said.

Holly said she was told Wednesday that the reversal of the credit could not be undone. Instead, she was offered an application for a $5,000 loan available to members with direct deposit who have received no pay or only partial pay during the shutdown.

The terms include no interest for up to four months and no payment for up to 90 days.

“We’re all worried about getting back pay,” Holly said. “I have daycare, my rent, utilities, things like that, that aren’t put on hold because … I’m involuntarily benched and my paycheck doesn’t come.”

This Service Credit Union message from Oct. 16, 2025, says the automatic payroll credit that was provided earlier to the customer during the government shutdown was being reversed because the “account now reflects sufficient available funds.” Some Defense Department civilian employees who still are not receiving a paycheck said they were caught off guard by the reversal, which Service Credit Union previously said would not happen until after payroll resumes. (Courtesy)

Other Service Credit Union customers who sought answers after seeing their account depleted overnight expressed similar frustration.

For example, a single mother who has been working without pay since Oct. 1 saw her entire Veterans Affairs monthly disability check of $2,297 evaporate earlier this week as soon as it was deposited. She said this week that she never received notification of the withdrawal.

Service Credit Union withdrew nearly $3,000 on Monday night without any notification said the woman, who formerly worked at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. She requested anonymity out of fear that speaking out could compromise her current government employment.

She said she spent about an hour on the phone with Service Credit Union earlier this week, pleading through tears for a reversal of the withdrawal.

She was counting on her disability check to cover part of her $2,800 monthly rent and other bills coming due.

“They said, ‘We saw you had substantial funds, so we just pulled (the money),’” she said.

To which she said she responded: “Have you seen the news? We’re still shut down. Was I supposed to have zero balance for you not to take it?”