We had a customer that reported that they were not able to make online payments to a certain payee using their Internet Online banking service. The payee also used the same bank as our customer.
Upon visiting the customer’s home, we discovered that the payee had mistakenly given our customer their ATM card number and not their bank account number. What was confusing was that our customer had been able to make payments to this payee for a few years successfully with no problem whatsoever.
Unfortunately, after talking to the payee on behalf our customer, it came to light that the payee had recently changed their ATM card which had therefore cancelled this account routing number. Once we corrected the payee’s beneficiary details to reflect their bank account number, the ability to make online payments was restored.
It does surprise us that the bank did not automatically forward payments to the account number, or at least inform the customer, that an online payment was pending to a cancelled account number! But it goes to show that you must always be vigilant when you set up your online banking payee’s details.
