Warning about changing direct deposit payroll bank

[Deleted]

I'm in the process of moving all of my checking from B of A to BankDirect. Everything is up and running with BankDirect so I changed my bank info on our HR payroll system "self-service portal" a little over 2 weeks ago. The paycheck that arrived a couple of days later went into B of A. I expected that. So did an expense reimbursement a week after that. Yesterday was payday. Nothing in B of A. Worse, nothing in BankDirect, either. I got on-line again to check and yes, the bank info I had input was correct. I called HR. Oh, yeah- when you change banks they have to "test" it and it takes so long that in the meantime one of your paychecks is paper. It's in the mail. Today's mail didn't have it. I'm leaving tomorrow for Chicago and am not back till Wednesday night. Even when I do get the check to the bank they'll put a hold on it for a couple of days.

So, I'm without a paycheck for over a week. The good news is that our cash flow is healthy enough that we're not going to miss paying any bills- but I'm ticked off. There was no notification of how long this would take and I had to do my own legwork to find out where my money was. My company is a giant multinational with a "Human Capital Management System" from a vendor that prominently touts its excellent "solutions" in giant billboards in the airports. Some "solution".

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

How very frustrating ~ I'm not sure I would have anticipated that, either. (I'm used to my wonderful DH's pay people making errors or missing things, but I don't expect errors/issues/delays on the banking side of things!)

[Deleted]

Actually, I knew this already because they told us this in some HR meeting. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't have forgotten and been frustrated as well.

[azphx1972]

Mar 12, 2011 19:09:30 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

from a vendor that prominently touts its excellent "solutions" in giant billboards in the airports. Some "solution".

Let me guess. ADP?

[wvugurl26]

Yeah that my pay system run by DFAS isn't all its cracked up to be. Neither is our travel system and its a mystery (well maybe not) how Northrop Grumman won that contract.

[Gardening Grandma]

Athena,
What a PITA!!!! I'm going through the same issue right now. Hopefully our pension checks will be deposited into the new account on April 1. I just mailed in a form to have my SS deposit changed.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of your transition goes smoothly!

[schildi]

Sounds frustrating.
This does not happen where I work. I changed banks and direct deposits quite a bit using our online tool to direct the deposits, and everything has always worked great. I need to do the update about 4-5 days before a new paycheck, otherwise it will still go to the old bank.

[Deleted]

Mar 12, 2011 19:34:53 GMT -5 azphx1972 said:

Let me guess. ADP?

Nope. SAP.

[azphx1972]

Mar 12, 2011 20:35:51 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Nope. SAP.

That's funny, my company also uses SAP for HR & payroll and I can tell you that we do not have that odd process. Any changes made in our employee portal is effective immediately, and my direct deposit goes to whatever new account I've specified. I'm guessing it's some old school policy at your company (or a requirement of your EDI vendor) rather than a shortcoming in SAP's software.

[azphx1972]

Ok, so I did more research on this topic. It looks like some companies decide to do what's called a 'prenote' authorization which is "a zero dollar transaction created and sent through the ACH network to test the validity of a payor's/payee's bank account information that was provided at the time of enrollment or if subsequently changed". You can find out more information at the following links:

www.ncosc.net/SECP/About_SECP_EFTOverview.html (see section under "What is a prenote?")
www.treasury.state.al.us/content/Documents/Prenote%20or%20Not.pdf

And as Paul Harvey would say, "now you know the rest of the story"!

[daisylu]

<-------- hates all things SAP.

[Deleted]

Thanks, azphx. The HR person had used the term "pre-note" but it went in one ear and out the other because I didn't know what it meant. PayPal does the same thing- when you open an account they send a transaction of 2 cents or some other minimal amount to your bank to see if it works. (Oops, just realized I gotta change PayPal bank info.) The process requires a 6 business-day delay to give the bank time to get back to the sender and verify the info, but if my employer were quick about initiating it after I changed the info that wouldn't have been a problem.

I'm going to say something to the HR person and tell them they need to give employees better info up front when they change banks. And now I'll stop blaming SAP!

[azphx1972]

Mar 13, 2011 7:56:34 GMT -5 daisylu said:

<-------- hates all things SAP.

LOL. Complex technology and user friendliness never quite go hand in hand. In fact, Microsoft is making my life a living hell right now. I have to deal with those pesky monthly Microsoft security patches as part of my job, and when something breaks, it's a royal pain to try to isolate which patch broke what on the dozens of servers that we own. It's like trying to win the lottery by playing every possible combination. Oh well, thanks for the job security Microsoft!

[azphx1972]

Mar 13, 2011 8:01:35 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Thanks, azphx. The HR person had used the term "pre-note" but it went in one ear and out the other because I didn't know what it meant. PayPal does the same thing- when you open an account they send a transaction of 2 cents or some other minimal amount to your bank to see if it works. (Oops, just realized I gotta change PayPal bank info.) The process requires a 6 business-day delay to give the bank time to get back to the sender and verify the info, but if my employer were quick about initiating it after I changed the info that wouldn't have been a problem.

I'm going to say something to the HR person and tell them they need to give employees better info up front when they change banks. And now I'll stop blaming SAP!

You're welcome! Now you can properly direct your anger at your HR department. ;D

(I like those PayPal verification deposits too, I've almost made a buck from all those accounts I've gone through, woohoo!)

[illinicheme]

Mar 13, 2011 7:56:34 GMT -5 daisylu said:

<-------- hates all things SAP.

[daisylu]

Mar 13, 2011 10:07:53 GMT -5 @illinicheme said:

Mar 13, 2011 7:56:34 GMT -5 daisylu said:

<-------- hates all things SAP.

And I have experience - the company that I work for uses 3 different versions, and I am the only person at the facility who has working knowledge of all 3.

[resolution]

My employer does it's payroll in house, but they also sent me a paper check in between banks. However they told me in advance about it. They actually required me to turn in a stop form and then a separate start form for the new bank instead of just letting me change it.

[TD2K]

We've got something similar. I know I changed my direct deposit (don't remember the details) and come pay day, nothing in the account. I looked at the statement I had actually gotten and it was my pay check, not just the statement.

[jeffreymo]

That's terrible customer service (you are a customer of the HR department). How hard would it have been to have an alert pop up when changing your banking information that explains the process. Do they really like getting a telephone call from every single person who does this?

Some companies do a pre-note, some do not. Some require voided checks some do not. I'd imagine most 3rd party software products have the ability to allow the user to choose pre-note or not. A company's decision to do pre-note might be influenced by the number of miskeys they make or the employee makes on the self service module. It's a pain reversing a direct deposit.

[illinicheme]

Mar 13, 2011 15:46:51 GMT -5 daisylu said:

Mar 13, 2011 10:07:53 GMT -5 @illinicheme said:

And I have experience - the company that I work for uses 3 different versions, and I am the only person at the facility who has working knowledge of all 3.

It got to the point where everytime were walking through an airport, my DH would jump in with "and the entire world knows how much you hate SAP" before I would even see the giant ad he was referring to. That's when I realized perhaps I complained too much about SAP.

[Deleted]

Mar 14, 2011 10:15:32 GMT -5 jeffreymo said:

That's terrible customer service (you are a customer of the HR department). How hard would it have been to have an alert pop up when changing your banking information that explains the process. Do they really like getting a telephone call from every single person who does this?

I agree, and I do intend to talk to the HR ladies on my floor when I get back- right now I'm out of town. Given the circumstances under which people might change banks (including re-directing paychecks to another account during a messy divorce), they really ought to tell you up front exactly what to expect.

[alabamagal]

Unfortunately this is one of the "hazards" of changing banks. It can be a PITA. I had this happen to me a couple of years ago, where I got a paper check in the mail. At the time, if you had direct deposit, you would still get a statement in the mail with your direct deposit information, as well as a piece of paper that looked like a check, but wasn't. So I was used to taring up the "looks like a check" piece of paper. When I changed banks, I put the "looks like a check" in the trash, then thought I would check to see which account the money went into, and it didn't go into my old account or new account, the had sent a REAL check, which was in my trash. Thankfully on top and not thrown out.

[thyme4change]

Changing banks is a huge PIA.