Scotiabank customers who were expecting to be paid on Friday are reporting on social media that their paycheques haven’t been deposited, and that the bank hasn’t made clear when the money will hit their accounts.
Downdetector, an online outage tracker, shows that users began reporting problems with Scotiabank mobile banking, online banking and depositing on Friday morning.
By 11:51 a.m. ET, nearly 4,300 users were reporting an issue. The number peaked at 5,000 just before 9:15 a.m. ET.
Some users on the social media platform X noted that the outage occurred just before the end of the month, when many people have rent, mortgage and other bills to pay.
Others wondered whether the bank would reimburse them for fees incurred because of the outage.
By Friday at 1 p.m. ET, several customers who hadn’t initially received their paycheques told CBC News that the money had landed in their accounts.
So it looks like every person in the country who banks with <a href=”https://twitter.com/scotiabank?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@scotiabank</a> and was due to be paid today, was not. It’s a widespread outage, and Scotiabank has not said a word.<br><br>That’s concerning to say the least.
—@ChrisIve
‘A technical issue,’ bank spokesperson says
A bank spokesperson confirmed to CBC News in an email that “any fees incurred as a result of this error will be refunded.”
“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 spokesperson told CBC News in an earlier statement. The same statement was posted to the bank’s account on X.
“We are actively working to resolve this as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.”
The bank did not respond to questions about when customers can expect the money to land in their accounts or what the bank’s timeline was for resolving the issue. CBC News has sent followup questions.
It’s not the first time that a Canadian bank’s online or direct deposit systems have malfunctioned. Earlier this year, Bank of Montreal’s online banking services were disrupted after a fire alarm went off at one of the bank’s data centres.
Similarly, TD Bank said that data-processing issues were responsible for a day-long direct deposit outage last year.
“We’ve had outages and technical issues with almost all the banks. These systems aren’t foolproof,” said Daniel Tsai, an adjunct professor of business and law at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“Some of these IT systems are legacy programs that have been in place since the 1980s, and we don’t know necessarily what the issue is at [Scotiabank], but this is not something that is unexpected and uncommon,” he said.
However, Tsai said that these incidents lead to a loss of confidence among consumers. “It’s that much more incumbent on banks like Bank of Nova Scotia to make sure that they service their customers and have properly functioning IT systems.”
‘It’s quite a frustration,’ customer says
Greg Adams, a Scotiabank client in Newfoundland, told CBC News that he usually expects his paycheque every Friday morning. But when he woke up this Friday, “there was no direct payment into the bank account.”
He first checked with his company’s payroll team, which said that the money had cleared the corporate account. His colleagues who bank elsewhere had received their pay, too.
“As bad as things are right now with the economy, every cent counts,” said Adams. “So when you look into your bank account, [and] you have no money or no extra money to do the things that you need to do for the week and the weekend with bills coming out … it’s quite a frustration.”
Hey <a href=”https://twitter.com/scotiabank?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@scotiabank</a> how about releasing everyone’s pay into their bank accounts, or at leave provide a statement as to why you’re the only major bank in the country with this issue. Staying silent isn’t very reassuring to your “valued” clients.
—@bustysal
Ottawa resident Meg Watson, also a Scotiabank client, didn’t get her paycheque Friday morning. She told CBC News that she’s tried everything: restarting her phone, deleting and redownloading the app, contacting her HR department at work.
Watson said she contacted Scotiabank around 6 a.m. ET, and a customer service representative told her the problem would be resolved by 8 a.m. ET.
“So I contacted my branch again and there was an automated voice memo [just] saying what the news is — saying they’re having issues and that it should be resolved shortly,” Watson said.
“And that’s where we are. I keep checking my apps. The app seems to be crashing.”
