UPDATE: On Friday evening, several hours after this story was originally published, RBC issued a statement to CBC News indicating that it had resolved a technical issue involving certain automatic deposit electronic transfers and that funds were now in the customer accounts..
It was a surprising discovery for Tanya Shields on Friday morning.
The Fall River, Nova Scotia resident said she logged into her account at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to pay some bills with money she received via wire transfer from customers of his small business.
But the money was not there.
“It was a bit alarming,” Shields said.
She had received confirmation on Thursday evening that the money had been successfully transferred, so the fact that it was missing was a concern.
Shields even asked her husband to wire her some money to make sure everything was running smoothly. His deposit was successfully transferred.
“Which was more concerning than the money that wasn’t there in the first place,” she said.
Others with similar issues
Shields says she checked social media and the bank’s website, but there was no information that resolved the issue she was having.
She knew that the banks were closed on Fridays and Mondays due to the Easter weekend and feared she would end up worrying about it for days.
CBC News has heard from other bank customers who have experienced similar issues.
Jeff Black, a Halifax-based weapons engineering technician with the Royal Canadian Navy, says he logged into his RBC account on Friday morning and discovered that the $2,355.97 automatically deposited via wire transfers Thursday were missing.
The money was to be used to pay his property taxes and for necessary supplies before he went to sea for three weeks.
“It made me nervous at first, given that I received a lot of money yesterday, and then it all disappeared,” he said.
It was a similar story for Christine Hunt, a controller and administrative employee in Newmarket, Ontario. She logged into her account to find missing money and her account overdrawn.
“I was completely freaked out because it’s $1,000. Where did it go? And the fact that it doesn’t even say it bounced. It’s like it doesn’t was ever produced,” she said on Friday.
Hunt found the wire transfer confirmation email, but called RBC anyway to find the missing money. She says she waited two hours on the line before hanging up.
With her bank account in negative territory, she withdrew $200 from her line of credit to cover a prepayment. But she still has no answer as to when she will get the money back.
“I don’t know what will happen. Are they going to charge me because I went into the red?” Hunt said. “The fact that it’s not even listed as never filed – it’s just blank – is so weird.”
Hello Shelley, thank you for your message. We are currently having an issue with wire transfers, which is causing recently deposited transfers to no longer show up. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible, and we appreciate your patience ^SB
—@RBC
Technical issue with wire transfers resolved: RBC
In a statement emailed to CBC News on Friday evening, RBC said it has “addressed the previously reported issue of account transfers and wire transfers involving automatic deposit recipients. Clients should now expect to see the funds reflected in their accounts”.
The bank went on to say that it “will reimburse the small number of customers who may have incurred any fees or charges as a result of this technical issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank our customers for their patience while we work to resolve the issue.”
Earlier today, RBC said it encountered a technical issue with some wire transfers.
“Automatic deposit e-transfers sent between Wednesday, April 13, midnight ET and Thursday, April 14, 11:30 p.m. ET, may not appear in customer accounts,” reads the statement, posted on the banking app. RBC Mobile.
“E-Transfers sent outside of this timeframe are unaffected. We strive to post these entries and reflect accurate account balances as quickly as possible.”
A spokesperson for Interac, Canada’s leading money transfer network, said its service was “working normally” but was aware that one of its “partner financial institutions was experiencing an issue on their end. “.
On Friday evening, some customers, including Jeff Black, confirmed to CBC News that refunds had been issued.