PFD ‘Signature Page’ a Stumbling Block for Many

Jay Barrett/KMXT
Time is running out in the filing period for this year’s Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, and for at least two Chiniak residents, they’re glad they filed early. That’s because Scott and Theresa Bonney found out last week that their applications were not complete,
Scott Bonney got an e-mail from the PFD Division saying he was not finished despite, getting confirmation from the state.
“I call up the Department of Revenue e-mail to me, and it says this: ‘Scott Bonney, you have successfully filed a 2014 adult permanent fund dividend application.’ And I go, ‘What the heck?’ So I call them, and the person, a nice person, says, well, ya, you finished the application, but you did not send the signature page. And I go, why send this e-mail out then? And I think the thing that I saw the second time was there was a whole segue into the Department of Motor Vehicles thing. Now that DMV says you are you, then it brings you back into the page where you can finally finish doing a real signature.”
Bonney said his wife did not get a similar e-mail about the new electronic signature page, but they decided to check anyway, and sure enough, she needed to go through the extra step as well.
“It didn’t seem like when first initial foray, back a month ago or so that we popped into … I know I didn’t pop into that DMV portion of it. So it could have been me, I made a mistake. Got an e-mail saying I was done. I thought, ‘you know, I wonder if anybody else out there might have fallen into the same trap.’”
The Bonney’s aren’t the only ones who’ve had issues with the electronic signature portion of the application process. Over 16,000 people had reported to the PFD division they’ve had problems.
Some had frozen web browsers after getting a confirmation number, and others didn’t go past the Pick Click Give donation section, where the electronic signature page is found.
If you feel like double-checking your dividend application, you can go and check on the status by logging back on at PFD.Alaska.gov.
The Permanent Fund Dividend application period end on March 31st.