VANCOUVER, B.C.—ATMs operated by Pigeon Park Savings, which is operated by Vancity Credit Union, were apparently being drained by a number of members who were overdrawing their accounts.
According to the Vancouver Sun, the Pigeon Park Savings’ ATMs, which serve low-income residents in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, had undergone a software upgrade that gave members temporary access to overdrafts, allowing members to make multiple withdrawals of $80, despite never having access to an overdraft before.
Many of the account holders who spoke with the Sun said they believed they didn’t have to pay the money back.
A message on Pigeon Park’s answering machine told clients that starting last Thursday, the branch would be updating its banking computer system and clients would only be able to access their accounts using ATMs until Monday, the Sun reported.
The credit union said it performed a “rigorous risk analysis” leading into its upgrade weekend and developed measures to establish daily limits for members, the Sun reported.
“These limits were set to limit the risk to Vancity while ensuring our members could access their money,” Vancity spokesperson Darwin Sauer told the newspaper. “We set small daily limits for the majority of Pigeon Park members based on an analysis of what they would normally withdraw. We’re aware of a small number of people across the system who have over-withdrawn their accounts and we put measures in place to deal with those situations.”
Fewer than 100 Pigeon Park members had over-withdrawn their accounts and Vancity temporarily suspended ATM access for those members, Sauer told the publication.
Before access was suspended, more than a dozen Pigeon Park Savings members told the newspaper they had used local ATMs to make cash withdrawals of $80 or more.
“I went to the bank machine and then pressed chequing, 80 bucks, “Apparently other guys were doing it (and) went two or three times — $80, $80, $80. I know one guy got $240 and I heard another guy got up to $900,” member Johnny Gulbrandsen told the Sun, adding that he believed most of them were spending the money on drugs.