On the first week of this month, our bank announced that due to major system upgrading, most of their services will be down for three days (April 5-7). The timely advisory was a big help because I made my withdrawals early as I have plans of taking out my nephews the next day.
Our payday falls every 10th and 25th of the month. As it was a legal holiday last April 9 (Valor Day), we were all surprised seeing that they have already credited our salary that very day. Before going home, I withdrew enough money to pay the bills and the following morning was able to transfer money to our credit union's bank account without any hitch.
Right about 10:30 AM of April 10, the office went into a frenzy when employees said that their salary—the entire amount—disappeared from their accounts. I tried checking mine online and through mobile app, but both were inaccessible.
Another bank glitch. Unannounced. Taking all of us, who are all excited `coz it’s payday, by surprise. I have about a little over a thousand pesos in my wallet, left from what was withdrawn the night before. Even so, I wasn't particularly panicking at first as I thought it will be resolved and up in a few hours. However, the day ended with still no money in our accounts and all financial transactions on hold. Many customers opted to go directly to the bank, but even that is no help as they weren't allowed to do over-the-counter withdrawals and transactions.
More than 24 hours later, the entire system is still offline. Many irate clients took their anger and frustration to Twitter and Facebook, while our Management was quick enough to offer cash advance (maximum of 1,000 pesos) to those who are in dire need of funds for whatever the reason. It may not be enough for some of us who need to pay the bills scheduled around that payday, but we are grateful for the initiative. I mean, beggars can't be choosers.
The next day, Friday, I checked my account through the mobile app to see that I have negative 7,000+ pesos. How they arrived at the amount down to the last cent, I don't know, but that's what it says. It seems like I was the one who owed something from my bank.
No ETA or timeline was given except for that very canned response: "We are working hard to restore these services as soon as possible." —no sense of urgency, whatsoever. At the time I have around 300 pesos left, certainly not enough as we have a team activity scheduled that day. Adding to the worry is the possibility that it may stretch until over the weekend which means I'm stuck at home penniless and able to do nothing.
The thing is that our bank, one of the biggest in the Philippines, would always have the same issue from time to time. They already denied rumors that the system was compromised, and instead explained that it's really just a glitch. They weren't being very transparent so many people can't help but speculate that it was indeed hacked.
The bank has become so unreliable that many of us thought that our office should reconsider their ties with them and switch to a better bank (aside from our payroll, we have invested a part of our retirement fund with them). Some of us who have two accounts are contemplating opening a back-up account with another bank.
Our feelings are valid. This is our hard-earned money and yet we couldn't get it. I have heard many stories on how plans were ruined by the said system upgrade. Regular people plan their getaways and bills payment near payday for obvious reasons, so it's unacceptable that customers will have to bear things like penalty for late payment. Many were just living paycheck to paycheck, so a glitch of such magnitude would cripple one's budget tremendously. What if the need is urgent? Or if there was an emergency? People were always encouraged to keep their money in banks, but how can us customers feel secured after the glitches we experienced? We have certainly lost our confidence in the current banking system.
BSP (Bangko Central ng Pilipinas) cannot do anything but monitor the situation. It made me think how our bank can just get away with no liability after they've restored all their services. Like, no harm was done. I have not heard of any incident that they compensated a client for the trouble caused by their systems being offline for days. If for anything, some who had their accounts debited (made a withdrawal in an ATM but no money came out) had to wait for many business days for the money to be back. In short, clients are forced to take the brunt on their own.
I am aware of the technology that modern banking these days entails as it involves complicated internal servers and data processes. Then again, it's only right that financial institutions as big as my bank should tell us what really happened and make sure that this not happen as often.
Heads should roll, systems rechecked and security tightened.
Our payday falls every 10th and 25th of the month. As it was a legal holiday last April 9 (Valor Day), we were all surprised seeing that they have already credited our salary that very day. Before going home, I withdrew enough money to pay the bills and the following morning was able to transfer money to our credit union's bank account without any hitch.
Right about 10:30 AM of April 10, the office went into a frenzy when employees said that their salary—the entire amount—disappeared from their accounts. I tried checking mine online and through mobile app, but both were inaccessible.
Another bank glitch. Unannounced. Taking all of us, who are all excited `coz it’s payday, by surprise. I have about a little over a thousand pesos in my wallet, left from what was withdrawn the night before. Even so, I wasn't particularly panicking at first as I thought it will be resolved and up in a few hours. However, the day ended with still no money in our accounts and all financial transactions on hold. Many customers opted to go directly to the bank, but even that is no help as they weren't allowed to do over-the-counter withdrawals and transactions.
More than 24 hours later, the entire system is still offline. Many irate clients took their anger and frustration to Twitter and Facebook, while our Management was quick enough to offer cash advance (maximum of 1,000 pesos) to those who are in dire need of funds for whatever the reason. It may not be enough for some of us who need to pay the bills scheduled around that payday, but we are grateful for the initiative. I mean, beggars can't be choosers.
The next day, Friday, I checked my account through the mobile app to see that I have negative 7,000+ pesos. How they arrived at the amount down to the last cent, I don't know, but that's what it says. It seems like I was the one who owed something from my bank.
No ETA or timeline was given except for that very canned response: "We are working hard to restore these services as soon as possible." —no sense of urgency, whatsoever. At the time I have around 300 pesos left, certainly not enough as we have a team activity scheduled that day. Adding to the worry is the possibility that it may stretch until over the weekend which means I'm stuck at home penniless and able to do nothing.
The thing is that our bank, one of the biggest in the Philippines, would always have the same issue from time to time. They already denied rumors that the system was compromised, and instead explained that it's really just a glitch. They weren't being very transparent so many people can't help but speculate that it was indeed hacked.
The bank has become so unreliable that many of us thought that our office should reconsider their ties with them and switch to a better bank (aside from our payroll, we have invested a part of our retirement fund with them). Some of us who have two accounts are contemplating opening a back-up account with another bank.
Our feelings are valid. This is our hard-earned money and yet we couldn't get it. I have heard many stories on how plans were ruined by the said system upgrade. Regular people plan their getaways and bills payment near payday for obvious reasons, so it's unacceptable that customers will have to bear things like penalty for late payment. Many were just living paycheck to paycheck, so a glitch of such magnitude would cripple one's budget tremendously. What if the need is urgent? Or if there was an emergency? People were always encouraged to keep their money in banks, but how can us customers feel secured after the glitches we experienced? We have certainly lost our confidence in the current banking system.
BSP (Bangko Central ng Pilipinas) cannot do anything but monitor the situation. It made me think how our bank can just get away with no liability after they've restored all their services. Like, no harm was done. I have not heard of any incident that they compensated a client for the trouble caused by their systems being offline for days. If for anything, some who had their accounts debited (made a withdrawal in an ATM but no money came out) had to wait for many business days for the money to be back. In short, clients are forced to take the brunt on their own.
I am aware of the technology that modern banking these days entails as it involves complicated internal servers and data processes. Then again, it's only right that financial institutions as big as my bank should tell us what really happened and make sure that this not happen as often.
Heads should roll, systems rechecked and security tightened.
Hope that BPI can work things out for you and everyone else with accounts there. Paano aasenso ang bansa kung ang mga services (like banks) can't get their act together? Hay.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Lalo na at hindi maiiwasan maging emotional ng mga clients when we talk about money. Sa hirap ba naman ng buhay ngayon, mare.
DeleteWhat's your bank anyway? You didn't seem to be affected by the recent system maintenance ha.
East West. ;)
Delete