KBC Regular Saver monthly DD payment not taken

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DMcL1971

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Is anyone else having a problem with the direct debit on their monthly Regular Saver account?

The usual monthly DD that KBC have being taking, on the first of the month, from my current account for the last two years, was not taken this month. When I checked my KBC online banking it showed that the DD had been claimed and returned unpaid. Their was ample money in the source account, so I contacted KBC.

They looked into it and immediately raised the issue with their IT department. It took them a week to confirm that there was indeed a problem and that they had never called for the DD. As of today, 17 days after the initial problem, they still have not taken the payment and cannot confirm when it will be taken.

Anyone else not have their monthly payment taken?
 
DMcL1971 said:
Is anyone else having a problem with the direct debit on their monthly Regular Saver account?

The usual monthly DD that KBC have being taking, on the first of the month, from my current account for the last two years, was not taken this month. When I checked my KBC online banking it showed that the DD had been claimed and returned unpaid. Their was ample money in the source account, so I contacted KBC.

They looked into it and immediately raised the issue with their IT department. It took them a week to confirm that there was indeed a problem and that they had never called for the DD. As of today, 17 days after the initial problem, they still have not taken the payment and cannot confirm when it will be taken.

Anyone else not have their monthly payment taken?
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This happened to me once before (February this year) and when I raised the issue with them, they agreed to an out-of-course payment into the account to make up for the previous payment so effectively two payments in one calendar month.
No explanation for the original problem was forthcoming.
 
Had the same issue a few months ago. DD was never taken. Didn't bother contacting them about it. It came out the next month.
 
They did perform some major update on their systems on 21st February. This caused all my account balances to double and then revert back to normal. It also caused one of my Electronic File Transfer payees to stop functioning and I had to delete and re-enter it. It also caused the dates of two of my lodgements made in early March to be reset back to 21st Feb. (I didn't complain about this as I got 7 days extra interest that I wasn't really entitled to).

A week after I made my complaint, when they finally admitted that they had a problem, they offered to take the payment again and I agreed to this. However they never took the payment. As of today they have said that the payments for a number of customers still have not been taken and they have not decided how to proceed. They might take the payment again on a pre-agreed date, or take a transfer from another KBC account instead or take a double payment on the next payment due date but they have not decided yet.

The one positive note is that they have assured me that regardless of when they actually take the payment it will be backdated on their system to the original date, so that there will be no loss of interest. I am not happy though that 17 days after the problem they are still not offering a definite solution.
 
Hi ,

I am having the exact same issue.

I rang KBC earlier in the week. KBC told me that there was an IT issue and they were getting lots of calls from customers effected by the outage of direct debits for regular saver customers.

Apparently there will be an update on this on Monday 20 April. The update might be that customers will be given various options to make the payment this month such as manual wires.

What a farce. I will make sure my payment is backdated.
 
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What surprises me is that it is taking them so long to sort this out. I have no problem with them having an IT issue, these things happen, but you expect it to be resolved in a few days. Waiting 20 days to even hear their plan for resolution is excessive. Then how long will it take them to implement this plan. They need to communicate the options to the affected customers and then get their responses and then implement their solution.

Also, though I have been very impressed with the level of customer service that I have received from KBC for the last two years they have really dropped the ball on this one. Seven times in the last two weeks someone in KBC has promised to ring me back with an update and have failed to do so.
 
I had a similar problem with the direct debit for my mortgage payment not been taken on the first of the month. I rang multiple times and at first they were blaming my bank and lack of funds. I eventually got them to admit it was their fault due to an IT issue. I have never much interaction with their customer service but I would say on this occasion it was pretty poor where they would promise to ring back and never would. Last week the arrears department rang me when the direct debit came back unpaid even though I had made contact with them at the beginning of the month highlighting that the payment was not taken from my account. They told me they were not aware of any IT issues and just told me the direct debit came back unpaid and would I pay by visa debit. It seems there is lack of communication between departments. I told them to make sure the payment was dated from the first as it was their fault and they said they would but I will check that it has as I don't trust them to do so
 
I spoke to KBC today, they still don't have a decision on how they are going to resolve the issue. I got fed up waiting, so they have allowed me to transfer the money in manually and they will then backdate it to the correct date. Though this solves the problem for me, I would be concerned as to how they intend to solve it for others. They may find themselves having lists of customers choosing different methods. That could lead to further confusion.
 
I just spoke to KBC too.

KBC refused to give me the option of manually wiring the money myself. They told me it was not possible into this account. This is clearly incorrect information.

KBC said a decision has been delayed about how to handle this until the middle or end of this week. Why the delay?

What a mess.
 
I transferred the money into the Regular Saver from my KBC Current account. Their online banking will not actually allow you to do this directly, but they advised me that if I add my Regular Saver account as a new payee on my Current account and transfer the money as if it were to an ordinary payee that that would work, which it did.

Perhaps this worked because the money was coming from within KBC but I see no reason why this wouldn't work from an external account. I presume that by the nature of the regular saver account they do not want anyone transferring money into it in any way other than the regular DD. But I doubt that the system would reject it.

Maybe they can see this problem getting worse if they let some people do manual transfer, then they have to remember to leave them out of a later fix.

I can see this becoming messy.
 
KBC have now given me the option of a manual wire payment.

I will keep a close eye to ensure that KBC do not duplicate the payment when their system gets back up and running.
 
I spoke to KBC on this issue again today.

They said that they started sending out letters today to the affected customers. They do not intend to retake the missed direct debits. Instead they are asking the customers to make manual transfer themselves to their Regular Saver accounts. Though these lodgements will show on your statements as having been made on whatever day you actually make the transfer, they say that at the end of the year, when interest is applied it, will be backdated to whatever date the original direct debit was supposed to have arrived.

We will have to keep an eye on the interest payment at the end of the year to see if they get this right.

The only good news is that if they do get it right, your lodgement amount has been earning interest wherever it has been for the last few weeks while also earning virtual interest in you KBC account.
 
aidamcg said:
I had a similar problem with the direct debit for my mortgage payment not been taken on the first of the month. I rang multiple times and at first they were blaming my bank and lack of funds. I eventually got them to admit it was their fault due to an IT issue. I have never much interaction with their customer service but I would say on this occasion it was pretty poor where they would promise to ring back and never would. Last week the arrears department rang me when the direct debit came back unpaid even though I had made contact with them at the beginning of the month highlighting that the payment was not taken from my account. They told me they were not aware of any IT issues and just told me the direct debit came back unpaid and would I pay by visa debit. It seems there is lack of communication between departments. I told them to make sure the payment was dated from the first as it was their fault and they said they would but I will check that it has as I don't trust them to do so
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An update on my post regarding my mortgage direct debit not been taken in April. I did not get paid my TRS on the 1st of June. I rang KBC this morning and have been informed that because the direct debit was not successful in April and came back unpaid revenue will not pay TRS. It will be July before I get paid. Is there anything I can do as it was their fault direct debit was not taken or will I just have to accept it and wait until July
 
You should not be out of pocket for something that was KBC's fault.

I suggest that you escalate this with KBC and ask KBC to pay your TRS and sort out the Revenue side themselves as it was not your fault.
 
CiaranT said:
You should not be out of pocket for something that was KBC's fault.

I suggest that you escalate this with KBC and ask KBC to pay your TRS and sort out the Revenue side themselves as it was not your fault.
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I have written to them outlining pretty much what you said so I will see what their response is. Out of pocket is not my main concern but the attitude of customer service today was quite remarkable. Paraphrasing a bit but something like "We don't really deal with TRS and it is up to the customer to make sure it is correct". Even though they were at fault their attitude was shocking. KBC are mentioned regularly as a good option for switching but the way they treat their existing mortgage customers is terrible in my opinion and I would advise people to think long and hard before moving to them.
 
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