A glitch in the distribution of Alaska Permanent Fund dividend payouts caused about 5,500 checks to be distributed that should have been garnished.
PFD Division director Debbie Bittney said Thursday an employee didn’t match correct records in a new software program and dividends were paid to applicants instead of creditors.
Bittney says the division has requested the return of about 3,600 checks that were deposited into accounts. The division issued stop payment orders on about 1,900 paper checks.
The total tally of the error is not yet available, but the state says the maximum amount of garnishments would be nearly $7 million.
New safeguards have been programmed into the system to prevent similar errors.
