Payday disruptions anger customers as ‘technical issue’ reported at a major Canadian bank

Just as end-of-the-month bill payments are due, some people aren’t getting direct deposits, including their pay.

In a post on social media Friday (July 26), Scotiabank said there are issues with direct deposits.

“We are currently experiencing a technical issue where some of our clients’ inbound payments, including direct deposits and cheque deposits, are not being applied to their accounts,” the bank said on X. “We are actively working to resolve this as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.”

People have been reporting deposit issues with Scotiabank to Downdetector, an online outage tracker, since early this morning. Just after 9 a.m., there were more than 5,000 reports.

The disruption comes at the worst possible time and many customers responded to the post with angry messages.

“This has been going on for many, many hours now. And I should have been alerted proactively much sooner, especially considering the day of the week and the time of the month,” one person wrote on X. “This is a major comms failure. I will be considering a change in banking institutions.”

“This is more than an inconvenience,” another person wrote. “It’s almost end of month. Mortgages, rent, many bills come due. Often with direct withdrawals. This is unacceptable, as real word financial penalties will be felt by your customers.”

Others asked if the bank will cover non-sufficient funds fees.

Some suggested Scotiabank offer compensation for the disruption.

“i’ll take $1000 extra for the inconvenience,” one person wrote.

It is unclear when the situation will be resolved or if people will be compensated.

We are currently experiencing a technical issue where some of our clients’ inbound payments, including direct deposits and cheque deposits, are not being applied to their accounts. We are actively working to resolve this as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.

— Scotiabank Helps (@ScotiabankHelps) July 26, 2024