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.

Financial

Related Stores

ubank
ubank

Comments

      • gromit on 20/08/2023 - 08:51
        +7

        whats with the entitled morons. Just because the banks are scum doesn't mean they are responsible for every mistake YOU make. You mean well informed like sending them emails which they then don't read?

        • ssfps on 20/08/2023 - 11:10
          -3

          How moronic is it to rely on a single email for detrimental changes to a customer that the bank can see the customer regularly uses? Any moron knows the signal to noise ratio for email is absurdly low. Send a (profanity) letter, or an SMS at least. "We're about to turn off this feature you use".
          Of course the bank isn't responsible for our mistakes, but you're a bootlicker because you think the bank ethically shouldn't be doing better, and deny their share of the blame.
          How about calling out the fact the interest rate is so pathetic without the "bonus", a ploy the entire purpose of which is to deny some % of customers interest some months.

          Of course, my comments are downvoted heavily, so i'm not picking on you individually, a good portion of these comments are bootlicking garbage.

          • gromit on 20/08/2023 - 11:25
            +3

            @ssfps: as someone that had a ubank account I got multiple emails as well as SMS's. As from this thread so did others, So are we to believe someone that doesn't bother to check their email for 9 months that they only got told once? seems they are very much an entitled moron like you that likes to blame anyone but themselves. hell when he started to realise how stupid his complaint sounded he started to blame his child instead.

            • lnem2 on 20/08/2023 - 21:23

              @gromit: The multiple emails and SMSs and forwarding of funds sent to old BSB is the correct way of handling a migration.

              This is not what happened wrt BPay.

          • Edisk6 on 20/08/2023 - 11:32
            +3

            @ssfps: Why should the banks be responsible for managing your finances? They are like any other business, they provide a product or service for a profit. The bank understanding why and how we use each bank account in order to properly identify when something may not be working exactly how we want it can be argued as ethically wrong also.

            If OP doesn't like the features of a particular bank they are free to switch to another aren't they?

            I get that it's an unfortunate situation and I too would try "swindle" my way back into getting 2k from thin air but to believe you are entitled to the money irrespective of your negligence is another story.

            • ssfps on 20/08/2023 - 18:17
              -1

              @Edisk6: As you point out, they are a business. The status quo, and in fact legal obligation is basically for them to be anti-consumer and try to rip people off, hence this "bonus" interest bullshit and detrimental changes.
              The fact you lot think this is defensible and the go-to retort to OP is that he's a moron is laughable. Of course we should be personally responsible lest we get ripped off, and OP dropped the ball, but the fact there are endless traps and endless fights to get a fair break, or you wind up short changed if you're not paying close attention, is bullshit. I can only think most of the posters ITT are happy with the status quo because they are the ones ripping others off, or they fantasize about one day being the person ripping others off.

          • lnem2 on 20/08/2023 - 21:44
            -2

            @ssfps: Thank you for perfectly summing, especially regarding signal v noise ratio and disabling a feature that was still being in use.

            The BSB/account number migration was handled much better, with multiple SMS/email, redirecting funds sent to old BSB and MOST importantly - SMS when old BSB/account number was used.

            With BPay, it seems like they realised late in the migration planning, that they needed to turn off BPay but were running to some project deadline and decided to give 1 month notice via 1 email.

            ubank disabled an important API, what chaos would occur if AWS, Azure, GCP disabled one of their APIs with 1 month notice and 1 notification.

            What if someone was off grid for 6-12 months? Working in an Amazon jungle?

            • johnno07 on 21/08/2023 - 09:44

              @lnem2:

              what chaos would occur if AWS, Azure, GCP disabled one of their APIs with 1 month notice and 1 notification

              Chaos roughly one hundred orders of magnitude greater than your current situation. My advice to you, given you sound like a new dev, is to keep an eye on your automations to make sure they are working as you expect - particularly in a situtation, like this, where there is no alerting on it not doing what you think it's doing.

              • lnem2 on 22/08/2023 - 23:27
                -1

                @johnno07: I would have thought a failing BPay payment would be my alert. A pretty hard use case to test/verify, biller accepts BPay -> successfully schedule payment at another bank -> biller disables BPay. Ordinarily, a biller code that is disabled, would not let you schedule periodic payments

            • FlyingMiffy on 22/08/2023 - 08:54

              @lnem2: Why use BPay instead of regular persinal transfers? Are you paying yourself a bill?

              • lnem2 on 22/08/2023 - 10:59
                -1

                @FlyingMiffy: I set that up a long time ago. I have no recollection of why I chose that option >5 years ago

  • monky on 19/08/2023 - 20:44
    +1

    tl;dr: banks are not your friend

    • Ghost47 on 20/08/2023 - 18:31

      Especially CBA.

  • frostman on 19/08/2023 - 20:51
    +2

    Click-bait.
    Nothing was "swindled".
    You failed to monitor to auto-transfers for over a year.
    It's not Ubank's responsibility to call every Joe-Blo about every failed transaction.
    The world doesn't owe you a favour for 'bonus interest'
    Move on.

  • Zapwap on 19/08/2023 - 23:01

    Scrolled down to the bottom just to check if OP had scored a single upvote to their comments.. so there's your answer OP.

    And after reading the rant.. yes, it sounds like ALL ME problem

  • Dack Smith on 20/08/2023 - 00:22
    +2

    This is typical of the society we live in now

    Self responsibility… zero

    Entitlement…. One thousand percent

    Stupidity….. ten million percent

    OP needs to stay sober

    • Poor Ass on 20/08/2023 - 12:28

      maybe off the wagon would be better

  • Poor Ass on 20/08/2023 - 00:45
    +1

    Haven't met anyone Bpay into their own bank account before. Bills and non bank accounts yes.

  • ssfps on 20/08/2023 - 02:39
    -3

    I hate these fat scummy banks as much as the next guy, but anybody who trusts any company's (or their own) billing/invoicing is correct for months on end, is asking to be ripped off.
    I learned to be fastidious about checking invoices and bank statements at 18 after getting double-billed by a big utility company. Their systems are sometimes just shit and even automated systems have bugs, never mind human error on some processes.

  • [Deactivated] on 20/08/2023 - 07:22
    -1

    Whoever bought ubank are massive clowns. I've never known a business sale to trigger new account numbers, cards, cancellation of auto payments, etc. The whole debacle reeked of novices. And their correspondence was so confusing I had to give up trying to understand it, deleted it without reading, and just checked whether the ASP transfer happened each month. When it didn't happen on the day it usually did, I set up an automatic transfer from my other bank to ubank. I have 330 auto-debits remaining which = 27 years.

    Because they notified us by email of how many different ways they planned to stuff us around, you almost certainly don't have a leg to stand on, should just set up an automatic payment from your other bank, forget it and move on.

    • newbo on 20/08/2023 - 13:07

      It was planned, they bought it to ruin it.

      • [Deactivated] on 20/08/2023 - 18:08

        Yeah, well… you have to wonder.

    • Ghost47 on 20/08/2023 - 18:32
      +1

      Pretty sure no one bought UBank, they bought 86400. But yes the merger was a total clown show and for very little benefit. The app is "more aesthetic" (subject to opinion) but honestly I would've been fine staying on the old system and using the old app.

      • cheesecactus on 21/08/2023 - 23:51

        old app was more functional in my opinion (eg. international travel notification ability and swapping sms notifications for push notifications)

  • Poor Ass on 20/08/2023 - 12:27

    Nek minnit Ubank sues OP for defamation

  • payless69 on 20/08/2023 - 13:27

    Ubank has a working app
    and: Fastest transfer also from savings acc
    try AMP! They steal so much from you that their share price jumped 22.5% in recent times.

  • Ciderfizz44 on 20/08/2023 - 17:05
    +1

    Swindled yourself by the sounds of it

  • dm02 on 20/08/2023 - 17:17
    +1

    So they notified you that BPAY payments were being disabled, and you're blaming them for your BPAY payments not being processed? You're joking, right?

    Can we get a neg option for forum posts please @mods?

    • [Deactivated] on 20/08/2023 - 18:55
      +4

      Technically you're correct, but why should a bank buying another bank, cause the need to change ANYTHING for customers of the first bank, which still exists, hasn't changed it's name, etc. It was just @$%^*&# stupid. Change for the sake of change. If anyone had to change anything it should have been ONLY customers of the other bank being brought across. All banks send waffling emails that are a waste of our time, notifying of a few words changed in some policy we don't care about which doesn't affect us anyway, because law requires them to tell us. So we form the habit of deleting emails without reading them because no-one expects a bank to make changes anything like what Ubank did… new cards, with new numbers, cancelling automatic payments, changing account names, etc. Oh and my old card just refused to work one day. So if I were overseas at the time I would have had no access to money, and the new card would be sitting in my mailbox back in Australia. No idea how I would have EATEN or PAID THE HOTEL (and possibly wound up in gaol for that), let alone needing buy an unnecessary ticket to fly home just to collect a 20 cent piece of plastic with new numbers.

  • So Was Red on 20/08/2023 - 22:05

    OP, try not to take it personally. These things happen and it sucks. Take the hit, learn the lesson and move on.
    Paid rent late becuase NAB didn't or still doesn't notify of failed scheduled transfers. Switched banks because of it.
    Lost a month of bonus interest from ING. I set multiple reminders in my phone for next time.
    Also "lost" a similar amount of money after getting some incorrect advice from Centrelink.
    Worse stuff happens to better people. Good luck!
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    • lnem2 on 20/08/2023 - 22:36
      -1

      Thanks,

      What bank did you switch to?

  • hashtagbargain on 21/08/2023 - 00:27
    +2

    I had a similar problem with ubank. Had to goto afca to get them to take me seriously. In the end they folded and returned my missing interest and a bit on top for the trouble.

  • T1OOO on 21/08/2023 - 07:33

    you really should be checking your finances a bit more closely each week, ie checking how much interest you made ect..
    i dono about you but i enjoy seeing an extra around $1800 in cash each month in my Nab account as interest .. kinda think to my self well all my coffees and lunches are paid so are my mobiles phone bills and internet each month….

    • johnno07 on 23/08/2023 - 01:02
      +1

      Nearly half a mil sitting in a savings account savings account earning <5%. Have you considered making this spare cash work a bit harder for you?

      • lnem2 on 23/08/2023 - 11:25
        -1

        It is not half a mil, off my an order of magnitude. It is an emergency fund

        • johnno07 on 23/08/2023 - 12:09

          I was talking to @T1OOO about their savings that generate $1800/month in interest in a NAB account.

      • T1OOO on 23/08/2023 - 17:27

        im not greedy, i have a house paid off, and still work on $300k+ (but not for much longer going to go part time 3 months a year) and i get rent also, so for me its pretty good, i didnt make the mistake of getting to over invested, i paid off all debts and my house.. i just turned 40, and only want to last till im 60, after that life might as well not even be living, ill be happy with just waking up and being plopped infront of the tv or garden all day.

        someone with $3M mortgage and wasteful lifestyle with kids yeah its emergency funding for 1-3 years tops.

        • johnno07 on 23/08/2023 - 17:35

          only want to last till im 60

          I know plenty of 60+ year olds (parents, parents of friends etc) that are having a great time! Unless you have a condition that you know is going to shorten your life span (if you do, I apologise) I would bank on living WELL past 60. There is a strong correlation between people with your income and education (judging by your financial situation) and living reasonably healthily past the median life expentancy.

          • T1OOO on 24/08/2023 - 07:30

            @johnno07: No condition, not gona be a old fart with a 20 something chick hahahha I have some shame breaking a hip getting out of bed ain’t anything to look forward too

  • bohn on 21/08/2023 - 08:50

    You gone and done f'd up son

  • Hangryuman on 21/08/2023 - 11:21
    -1

    OPs rant reminds me of a young woman I know who didn't read her emails, and then wondered why she missed out on important events and opportunities … meh, when you become an adult, you are considered responsible for managing your own life.

  • Duckie2hh on 21/08/2023 - 12:22

    Hi bank, my auto-pay for the mortgage payment failed….. can I please have a do-over and refund on the additional interests?

  • Eeples on 21/08/2023 - 13:48

    You have enough money already if you haven’t noticed $200 extra staying in your account each month….. let alone not noticing $2000/month not earned in interest.

    Give me a break.

  • Cirrus123 on 21/08/2023 - 14:10
    -1

    All these useless lonely trolls aside, you are right in your complaint that they only sent one notification, and did so a month before it was to take effect. This is sneaky, and you are correct in that most likely it was done in this manner to mitigate certain interest payments.

    Further, it is not reasonable for you to check every deposit or withdrawal from your account to make sure everything is running correctly. Again, these useless lonely trolls are just trying to get a dopamine hit by ragging on someone.

    And although you are right, and feel slighted, it feels unlikely that you will be able to recoup any lost funds as a result, because through the technicality that they did notify you, and you did not check your outgoing payments.

    However, do your best to cost effectively pressure them, as litigation for them is much more expensive than it is for you, and in some cases the initiation of this is enough to garner a result. Good luck!

    • Randolph Duke on 21/08/2023 - 14:42
      +2

      Further, it is not reasonable for you to check every deposit or withdrawal from your account to make sure everything is running correctly.

      You wouldn’t notice an extra $500 or $1000 in your account after a few months and start to look into it. You wouldn’t notice the bounce back transactions?

      Pro tip - periodically reviewing your account transactions is a good idea, for scenarios like this and fraud detection.

      • Cirrus123 on 22/08/2023 - 03:51

        Noticing a transaction is one thing. Not noticing a missing transaction is another. And no, I would not notice another 500-1000 dollars in my account. Who the hell would notice a 500 dollar discrepancy in an account after a few months? I don't operate from paycheck to paycheck so such things fall under the radar, which is exactly what these shady tactics are aimed at.

        • Randolph Duke on 22/08/2023 - 07:12

          Shady tactics? UBank not having OP’s money isn’t good for them.

          Checking goes both ways too - reviewing the UBank account and not seeing any transactions wouldn’t raise flags?

  • AnyFurtherDiscount on 21/08/2023 - 14:51

    Seems like a lot of people disagreed with you. I am not sure about other people but myself personally check EVERY single month, make sure myself meet criteria for the bonus, like 30 seconds each month for your hard earned coins.

    I am somehow paranoid as well. The bank asks to tap my card 5 times, I purposely tap 6 times, just in case one failed or bounce back or whatever god reasons it could happens. Then the rest I churn them into credit card.

    You can waste thousand dollars to hire a lawyers but most likely it does not help. Lesson learned and move on !

  • IMadeYouReadThis on 21/08/2023 - 14:52
    +1

    I transfer $200 on very first day of the month as I just love seeing the green tick mark in my uBank account telling me that I have activated my bonus interest for the month.. As Dan Andrew often says, having lawyers involved means - "lawyers picnic". So move on, take responsibility of making manual transfer each month so you are in peace for the rest of the month. All the best!

  • Munki on 21/08/2023 - 17:32

    "Swindled"

    LOL!!!

  • Hunter14 on 21/08/2023 - 18:10

    I really don't see how this is Ubank's fault. They sent you an email saying Bpay is being disabled. You didn't see it. Are you angry at them that they didn't give you a call to ask if you saw the email?

  • Look Up on 21/08/2023 - 18:16

    Was expecting a story about some crafty dark pattern UX that tricked OP into buying a battle pass depositing only $199.99 every month

    @lnem2 take the L and move on

    And keep in mind the golden rule - if you don't look after your money, it won't look after you

  • Marcsie on 21/08/2023 - 18:55

    lol lol lol

  • robbie613 on 21/08/2023 - 23:47
    +3

    Bro, I got that email, guess what I did. I cancelled my bpay transfer and updated it to the bank /account number. Check your accounts once a month, it's your savings. What if you had been hacked and you didn't notice the money was gone for 9 months?

    Things change, they gave plenty of notice. No one 'swindled' you, don't play the victim card.

    The only thing that was swindled here was the ozbargainers time with the clock bait title.

  • FlyingMiffy on 22/08/2023 - 08:51

    So they sent you an email about a product change which you didnt read for 11 months and didnt notice for 10 months. Sorry mate, sounds like they did their job. Also BPAY is meant to be for bill payments… sounds like you are doing it for personal banking. Why transfer via BPay when you can just make reoccuring transfer from one personal to another account?

    • bohn on 24/08/2023 - 10:45

      cos nub

  • wetsandwich on 22/08/2023 - 14:43

    This is entirely on you, and quite frankly you're being absurdly obtuse about it..

    They did tell you, and if you actually cared you would have noticed discrepancies in expected versus actual transfers and interest..

  • Multiple on 29/02/2024 - 18:27
    -2

    Dont listen to all the morons who ridiculed you im this thread.

    Ubank is built on its clients relying on auotmatic transfers giving them the full interest rate. They know full well changing peoples acc numbers is going to mean they wobt have to pay interest to all the customers who dont update their automatic $200 transfer details… And will make provably a few million from it.

    Also there is no reason i see for them to turn off the automatic re routing so customers do have more time.

    The same thing that happened to you happened to me. It means i lost $2500 of interest because i only just found out.

    They also switched the way their bonus interest works so the bonus rate makes up the bulk of the internet payment… Whenit use to make up the fraction of it. Which further helped them not pay the interest to the customers due to them changing their account numbers.

    • lnem2 on 14/04/2024 - 13:52

      Send me a PM, I managed to squeeze some money out of them

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join