ubank Swindled Me out of around $2k, Didnt Meet Bonus Interest Criteria Due Them Disabling BPay

lnem2 on 17/08/2023 - 20:30
Last edited 17/08/2023 - 20:30

(rant coming)

ubank requires you to deposit $200 per month to qualify for bonus interest. Many years ago, I scheduled a $200 monthly transfer via Bpay from a NAB (owner of ubank) account. Today, by chance, I noticed that the BPay had failed, and dug in further to find that the $200 Bpay payment had been QUIETLY failing since Oct 2022. This meant that I have been missing out on bonus interest since then, with the exception of a couple of months where I manually transferred into ubank and qualified for the bonus interest.

In September 2022, there was 1 email from ubank (that I only read today), that mentioned the Bpay deposits were being disabled. That is all the notifications they sent regarding Bpay.

Early in 2023, all ubank accounts also got new BSB and Account numbers as part of some migration they did (probably 86400 related). This was handled much better, multiple emails, sms notifications and for some period of time, ubank was redirecting payments made to old BSB which gave me a chance to adjust saved payees accounts to the new BSB and acc number

After 4 calls and more than 2 hours in total, ubank dismissed my complaint citing "reasonable notice" and "business decision".

Is AFCA my only option? What social media platforms would be best to kick up a stink?

How many other people has this happened to? BPay has been disabled since 2022, direct deposits via account number will start failing as of this month. uBank would know the percentage of accounts that would meet the bonus interest criteria pre and post migration, they are standing to benefit from this.

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Comments

  • soan papdi on 17/08/2023 - 20:37
    +114

    In September 2022, there was 1 email from ubank (that I only read today),

    and

    dug in further to find that the $200 Bpay payment had been QUIETLY failing since Oct 2022.

    Why you not angry with NAB for not notifying you about the failed Bpay? Presumably you didn't see the bounce notification?

    After 4 calls and more than 2 hours in total, ubank dismissed my complaint citing "reasonable notice" and "business decision".

    Any reasonable person would agree with them.

      • soan papdi on 17/08/2023 - 20:52
        +69

        I understand your frustration but it's in our interest to check in regularly to ensure any automation is working as expected. Especially something you set up 5 years back. There's also inconsistency in your statements about wanting to get notified by email but also not reading them for over 9 months.

        Anyways, good luck in your pursuit to shame them on social media. It will likely backfire.

          • soan papdi on 17/08/2023 - 20:57
            +18

            @lnem2:

            Although if every failed transfer was a separate notification, I would have more chance to catch it.

            This is a ridiculous failure on NAB's part. UBank cannot notify you about a transaction they don't know about, since they've disabled the specific BPay biller code. It's the sender's problem.

              • archiexyz on 18/08/2023 - 09:40
                +7

                @lnem2: Sounds like a you problem. Ubank is one of the easiest to check if bonus criteria has been met with a prominent progress bar on the app, plus the option to be notified, as opposed to many banks where it is hidden deep in the account settings with no notification option

      • nobro25 on 19/08/2023 - 16:38

        OP is the type of person that'll complain if the bank only sends one notice of rising interest rates. They'll probably sue their mortgage provider because they only gave them one notice.

      • Pinchy on 19/08/2023 - 17:35
        -1

        I'm with Ubank. But weird.. I can go no spam emails. They stopped accepting Osko but I realised straight away.

  • askbargain on 17/08/2023 - 20:47
    +44

    feel free to spend $2k on lawyers to laugh at you

      • afoveht on 17/08/2023 - 21:19
        +17

        That may be so, and I hate banks more than the next guy, but swindled is hardly what it is.

      • Jake D on 18/08/2023 - 09:56
        +6

        Most people read their emails though

        • Canberralad92 on 19/08/2023 - 23:53
          +14

          Most people probably also check how much interest they are earning regularly :p

          • [Deactivated] on 20/08/2023 - 07:02
            -3

            @Canberralad92: Nope. I haven't checked for years because the rate was so pathetic (and getting worse each month) that it only made me angry.

        • [Deactivated] on 20/08/2023 - 07:00
          -3

          Most of their emails, for years, were about some minor wording change no-one cares about. So you get in the habit of deleting them without reading.

      • DoctorCalculon on 18/08/2023 - 22:55

        I wonder how many others are in this position and have not yet realized.

        Lots of assumptions there. Or, are you trying to fish for a class action against UBank? Dream on. :)

  • try2bhelpful on 17/08/2023 - 20:48
    +12

    It helps to check your transfers regularly in case something goes wrong.

      • try2bhelpful on 17/08/2023 - 21:27
        +11

        It doesn’t take long to log into your account and see what interest is there. I’m very paranoid about transfers so I check them regularly. I also check my interest has gone in.

        It is very annoying when this sort of thing happens.

        • Tleyx on 19/08/2023 - 22:47

          You dont need to.login ubank notifies you when you receive transfers, so he would just not see.those

      • nobro25 on 20/08/2023 - 16:55
        +2

        No excuses man. Stop scrolling on tik tok or whatever useless app you're using when you're on the can. It takes a few clicks on your phone to log into your bank account. If it takes more than 30 seconds to log onto your online bank account in the year 2023. Maybe go take some computing classes.

    • Hansi on 20/08/2023 - 15:48

      Agree, I can understand how tracking multiple avenues / accounts can become cumbersome. At some point people need to realise how much time they need to invest to keep all their accoutns / bonuses etc going without problems. Something can allways happen.

  • brad1-8tsi on 17/08/2023 - 21:37
    +79

    So you never noticed for 9+ months that $200 wasn't leaving your NAB account and that $200 wasn't arriving in the uBank account.
    You didn't notice that your monthly interest had dropped away.
    You ignored emails from your bankers.

    How about taking some personal responsibility?

      • kerfuffle on 18/08/2023 - 06:10
        +27

        Yes, having a 9 months old child may help explain

        ITT: OP still failing to take personal responsibility and blaming someone else who has no idea about how UBank works, or how even banking works, being only 9 months old.

      • disturboed on 18/08/2023 - 09:51

        so what happened to all those $200 amounts that failed to transfer?

        • lnem2 on 18/08/2023 - 09:53
          -3

          Bpay bill payment was rejected on NAB side based on biller code

          • DoctorCalculon on 18/08/2023 - 23:01
            +3

            @lnem2: How on Earth is this a uBank issue?

            ubank Swindled Me out of around $2k

            FFS! You need to change your clickbait thread title.

            • kiriakoz on 20/08/2023 - 11:52
              +6

              @DoctorCalculon: The clickbait thread title is the only reason I am able to be here, laughing at OP. Please don't take away that!

            • MrFrugalSpend on 20/08/2023 - 22:16

              @DoctorCalculon: I believe OP is using them interchangeably because NAB owns Ubank - they are basically the same thing / same banking license.

              • lnem2 on 20/08/2023 - 22:35
                -1

                @MrFrugalSpend: NAB was the bank I was making the BPay from. Yes, I know NAB owns ubank

      • brad1-8tsi on 18/08/2023 - 10:19
        +8

        Yes, having a 9 months old child may help explain. It is also hard to notice something that is not happening,

        Don't blame the baby. Thousands of new parents manage to function at a base level when a new born arrives.

        You must have a truckload of money if you didn't notice the $200 "extra" that was in your account or bother to check the monthly statement (online or on paper).

        I was Mr Mum for both our kids and dropping back to one wage I was checking our bank balance and transactions every week. I still do check the transactions weekly for those weird, small amounts that signal somebody may be trying to scam your account.

        Your cavalier attitude to money management has cost you a bit of interest but you haven't lost money. That's the main thing.

        • clover on 18/08/2023 - 19:31
          +6

          I dont understand why people keeps blaming their kids for their own failure.

          • Ghost47 on 19/08/2023 - 16:06

            @clover: People who act that way probably should've thought harder about what having kids would be like before actually having them. Hopefully OP matures fast.

        • photonbuddy on 19/08/2023 - 16:25
          +1

          You must have a truckload of money if you didn't notice the $200 "extra" that was in your account or bother to check the monthly statement (online or on paper).

          Well … to have lost ~$2000 in bonus interest in less than a year, they must have a truckload of money in that account!

          • nobro25 on 20/08/2023 - 17:03
            +1

            @photonbuddy: Technically they didn't lose anything. They weren't eligible to begin with because they failed to check the requirements of a automated system when the criteria changed.

            Is like saying oh, I should've won the lottery, I bought the wrong lottery ticket which had the winning numbers for another lottery. Therefore the lottery has scammed me outta millions for the Powerball jackpot which I didn't play for.

            • photonbuddy on 20/08/2023 - 20:14
              +2

              @nobro25:

              Is like saying oh, I should've won the lottery, I bought the wrong lottery ticket which had the winning numbers for another lottery.

              That's a pretty poor analogy …

      • Smol Cat on 20/08/2023 - 12:10
        +1

        Lol OP is either a troll or a massive joke or a person crying so hard about something they themselves directly caused. Such entitled behaviour.

  • 7ekn00 on 17/08/2023 - 21:40

    How much of your time is the $3 of interest missed worth?

    • lnem2 on 17/08/2023 - 21:45
      -4

      its $2k, $2000

      • 7ekn00 on 17/08/2023 - 21:52
        +4

        Take the missed interest as a learning and responsibility lesson and move on …

        The specific lessons (because I feel you have no clue about adulting):
        - Read all emails from important institution you have engaged in life
        - Double check any money transfers, they can fail for various reasons, don't assume "auto" means you never have to check
        - Ranting on forums achieves nothing, but wasting more time which you will never get back
        - Emotions are not facts, uBank told you via email about the changes, which will be deemed appropriate by any "regulatory body" to fulfill their fiduciary duty

      • lewislardboy on 20/08/2023 - 14:09

        $50k in your emergency fund? Solid work.

        Using BPAY in the first place is a weird move though, right? Certainly a non-typical way of moving between banks.

        I'd be furious too, but also a little sheepish at my non-zero % part played in the saga.

        I'd take the L and move on.

        • lnem2 on 20/08/2023 - 21:19
          -1

          Yes, it is an emergency fund. I don't recall why I used BPay in the first place, it was a while ago, hence even if I saw the notification, I doubt I would have made a connection to my recurring payment. It took me 20 minutes on the phone with NAB (from account) to figure out it was BPay

  • AngoraFish on 17/08/2023 - 21:52
    +9

    Hyperbolic title is hyperbolic.

  • Morien on 17/08/2023 - 21:59
    +7

    I'd be annoyed, too. But you haven't been swindled.

    You have annoyingly not noticed that Bpay was no longer supported. You have annoyingly not checked and therefore not fulfilled the terms for almost a year. It's annoying, but it is what it is.

  • Muzeeb on 17/08/2023 - 21:59
    +17

    I Was Lazy and Swindled Myself out of around $2k, Didnt Meet Bonus Interest Criteria Due ubank Disabling Bpay

    FTFY

    • DoctorCalculon on 18/08/2023 - 23:03
      +1

      Due to uBank Disabling BPay and a Newborn Baby

      • OZKap on 19/08/2023 - 15:56
        +4

        Newborn baby disables BPay! 😱

        • CrowReally on 21/08/2023 - 16:38
          +1

          Babies Hate Him! Disable BPay With This One Weird Trick

  • cookie2 on 17/08/2023 - 22:00
    +1

    My auto deposit also stopped. But I realised as soon as I got into the new app as there was no section allowing for it or showing as a future transaction. Contacted them on socials as their hold time was 2hr plus at the time as ppl were being scammed, confused etc. They answered me on social to say that it had stopped and I'd need to set it up with my external bank to deposit in. I also missed any comms regarding it being disabled and I completely get why you're pissd.
    It shits me off that the feature has been removed, especially since it was such a value ad for me. It's scammy and slimey and just dodges interest payouts. I would leave ubank after all the changes etc but nothing better as yet.

    • lnem2 on 17/08/2023 - 22:21
      -4

      Thanks understanding. Ordinarily I regularly track things, stock prices, cricket scores. However, this was a busy period in my life.

      If interest_saved > cost_of_losing_customers, why not change the account numbers again. ,

  • Worf on 17/08/2023 - 22:17
    +4

    You could lodge a complaint with AFCA; however, AFCA might swindle your time.

    Agree it’s annoying and substantial, but could be a lot worse, e.g., if you were genuinely scammed.

    • lnem2 on 17/08/2023 - 22:23
      -8

      Was hoping to get people to opine about my chances with AFCA. Whether AFCA would take on such small (for them) case, alas the thread has veered in a different direction. Will call them in the morning

      Do you know?

      • Worf on 17/08/2023 - 22:54

        I don’t like your chances with AFCA. May as well check transaction history for any suspicious activity whilst you’re there (that’s what I meant by looking for genuine scams …or fraudulent transactions).

        And yes, the dispute would probs be with nab whose failure to provide reasonably notice of failed bpay transactions has caused financial harm from losses incurred as a result of failed funds being sent to another account (which just so happens to be their subsidiary, ubank - still a separate legal entity though).

        I guess it depends on the definition of reasonable notice. A (emphasis on singular) notice (sms, or email) of a failed transaction is sufficient for me. In fact, I received an email from my bank yesterday re large transaction (which I initiated so I simply disregarded it…) heck I’d probably get annoyed if I kept getting multiple notifications for a single transaction.

        Note, I know nothing about law. But the ozbargain pub test might be an indication of where you stand, and average/reasonable expectations.

          • NoobForever on 19/08/2023 - 11:07
            +3

            @lnem2: U want the bank to pay you back for your oversight and financial negligence.. come on

      • cookie2 on 18/08/2023 - 18:15
        +3

        While others may disagree, I don't think a single email to advise is reasonable. Especially given all the general confusion around the changes, difficulty in even contacting them. they also provided multiple post mail about the forced changed etc but none mentioned removing the auto deposit feature. Also couldn't find anything clear on their site when i searched so hard to be informed until I signed into the new app, played around and couldn't find the feature.

      • johnno07 on 21/08/2023 - 09:38

        hoping to get people to opine about my chances with AFCA

        0%.

  • bdl on 17/08/2023 - 22:19
    +10

    Please wear your Ozbargain tshirt when on A Current Affair so we know it's you :)

    • lnem2 on 17/08/2023 - 22:20
      -2

      please send the said tshirt.

      • Mallard on 19/08/2023 - 18:33
        +19

        They were delivered to everyone that opted in.

        Didn't you see the email?

        • bdl on 19/08/2023 - 18:36
          +4

          From memory, payment was only accepted via BPay

  • Malik Nasser on 17/08/2023 - 22:27
    +22

    Yeah, I dont like taking responsibility for my life either.
    Sure NAB and ubank could have done better, but so could you.
    They gave you a notification which you ignored (for 10 months).
    You didn't check or notice changes in your sending and receiving accounts.
    You put your trust in the banks doing right by you (and that always works out well… said no-one).
    You have no leg to stand on here.
    Learn from it and move on.
    I hope your rant made you feel better.

  • brendanm on 17/08/2023 - 22:29
    +5

    Why on earth would afca do anything, they told you that it was going to happen, you ignored it and continued to perform a failing transaction. Pity they can't charge you for wasting their time.

  • SBOB on 17/08/2023 - 22:30

    You messed up…pricey lesson, but a lesson none the less….

    Take some responsibility for your own finances, financial choices and perhaps spend more than 5 mins deleting or ignoring emails each month.

  • randomusername2017 on 17/08/2023 - 23:06

    Nothing gained nothing lost….

    If you missed a $200 transaction, probably should check for any unfamiliar recurring charges whilst you're at it..

  • zzzsianzzz on 17/08/2023 - 23:10
    +1

    u can payid or bank account, why bpay?

    cba charge for failed transfers after 3 tries.

    • lnem2 on 17/08/2023 - 23:12
      -2

      the bpay was setup 5+ years ago. I don't remember why I did that, but this option was removed and that is what caused the payments to fail

  • onetwothreefour on 17/08/2023 - 23:11
    +12

    I have a weekly automated transfer from ANZ to uBank, I still check every week that it happened correctly. I check my uBank account on the first of each month to make sure I receive my interest. I have not been swindled yet.

    Nobody is so busy for 9 months that they cannot check their bank accounts. Newborns sleep a lot, you had time to check.

    Learn your lesson and move on with your life.

    • Essem on 20/08/2023 - 16:11

      Ditto, as a fairly new UBank customer I look on 1st month just for the sheer happiness so see how much I’ve earned in interest. For every deposit received at UBank I get a notification that funds have been received.

  • garetz on 17/08/2023 - 23:19

    They notified you, you missed the notification. I doubt afca will do anything.

  • hasher22 on 18/08/2023 - 00:04
    +8

    Seems the money wasn't really important to you if you haven't noticed 200 dollars not transferring out of your account and your uBank account not increasing. People log into their uBank and double check the tooltip if they are successful earning bonus interest. I do it each month.

    In early 2023 when you got the notification for the new bsb/acc, I do understand that payments to the old bsb/acc was auto-transferred IF bpay was working for you, which it wasn't, but that should have given you an indication to log into NAB and check the transfers and update the bsb/acc and that should have alerted you that it wasn't transferring the 200 per month for a few months.

    Sorry OP, usually im more empathetic but this is all on you.

  • jetblack on 18/08/2023 - 08:26
    +5

    lol

  • NoobForever on 18/08/2023 - 09:42
    +2

    This sounds like its totally your fault, sorry..

  • mjuice7 on 18/08/2023 - 10:14

    surely this is just a joke post to get everyone's juices flowing. no one could be that blase about their finances.

  • westzod on 18/08/2023 - 10:27
    +1

    Life can definitely get extremely busy but it only takes like a minute or two to check your uBank account to see if you hit the interest quota. It's obviously frustrating but it's a lesson learnt.

    • hasher22 on 18/08/2023 - 11:13

      Not even a minute, less than 30 seconds.

  • KangaDrew on 18/08/2023 - 12:20
    +6

    You're angry at a bank for not paying attention to your personal finances for you? If it was a month, maaaaaybe 2 months, sure…. but you didn't bother to check for almost a year??? 🤦🏻‍♂️

    Personal accountability. Look it up.

    • dbun1 on 19/08/2023 - 21:42

      This is peak society at the moment. Entitled and zero ownership and responsibility.

      “Nothing is my fault, everything is someone else’s fault. Someone else should have done something to stop me from screwing up.”

  • capslock janitor on 19/08/2023 - 13:56
    -3

    :uBank contacts channels suck
    tho
    i haven't tried their socmeds yet

  • Cineaste on 19/08/2023 - 14:09
    +8

    OP's entitlement is off the charts.

  • Herbse on 19/08/2023 - 14:18
    +5

    Entitlement at its best.

  • Blargman2001 on 19/08/2023 - 14:49

    They sent you a notice within a reasonable timeframe. You can take it up with the AFCA. I reckon your chances of success with them aren't good. In most cases an email notification is considered as good as a letter these days. Maybe you'll get an apology and they might waive some fees for a few months if you're lucky. Your other bet is a civil case against them. You should go for it and let us know how much time and money you waste trying to get them to compensate you.

    • kerfuffle on 19/08/2023 - 14:59

      How do you waive fees for an account that charges no fees, exactly?

      • Blargman2001 on 19/08/2023 - 16:46
        -1

        Haha, then they'll probably just get an apology letter.

  • mrvaluepack on 19/08/2023 - 15:26

    They sent me like 3 reminders through sms and email that everything was going to switch over and you will be getting new bsb and acc numbers. Dont feel sorry for you if you ignore their messages

  • dubingup on 19/08/2023 - 15:42
    +5

    You had 394,200 minutes (9 Months) and you couldn't spare 1 or 2 minutes on something that you care about but you clearly don't.

    If you did you would be checking your emails (just how you want to get your notifications via Email and not Ubank App) you had ample opportunities & many spare minutes.
    Learn Grow Move forward.

  • tikei on 19/08/2023 - 15:50

    Not the banks' problem that you didn't read your email from them. They are not your mother who should constantly nag you. You need to be accountable and responsible for your own things, not other people/institutions.

  • Aerith-Waifu on 19/08/2023 - 16:49

    My god! After reading his post I feel my posts are good! LOL

  • cktftw on 19/08/2023 - 17:23
    +1

    Hope you didn't pass that sense of entitlement to your baby!

  • ace888 on 19/08/2023 - 17:24
    +1

    One word: Negligence
    Fine, Two more words: Move On
    Okay Three more words: ”Swindled” my arse!

    • illusion99 on 20/08/2023 - 09:29

      Everyone likes to call everything a “scam”. 100% guaranteed when ice cream is half price someone will say “scam!!! This should be the normal price”

  • BlueberryOrangeJuice on 19/08/2023 - 18:09

    I can’t see you winning this one. And how did you not check your ubank account for that long to just ensure that the interest was being added?

    I guess lesson learnt, check every month? Only takes a second 🤷‍♀️

  • Drakesy on 19/08/2023 - 18:09
    +1

    Ngl
    I check that ive qualified for ubank's interest every month even though i have automated deposits set up

    $1000 lost a month really adds up

  • TightAl on 19/08/2023 - 18:15
    +2

    Move on, you didn't lose anything.
    You didn't do the bare minimum and you got the bare minimum.
    Thats life

  • gromit on 19/08/2023 - 20:42
    +2

    I can visualise the eyerolls from the poor AFCA person that gets this call, yet another person looking to offload their own mistakes on the banks.

    • ssfps on 20/08/2023 - 02:44
      -7

      What's with all the bootlickers ITT? You living in some fantasy world where those poor poor banks are just trying to make an honest living and they do their best to ensure customers are well informed, given plenty of time, and abstain as far as possible from making detrimental changes?

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