As of: February 26, 2024, 7:10 p.m
By: Marvin K. Hoffmann
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Many Postbank customers will probably not be able to get their money.
Some are plagued by existential fears.
The pressure on Postbank is growing.
Hamm – Postbank is still under pressure.
Numerous customers complain that estates are not paid out and that there is no access to the inheritance.
For many people, access to so-called P accounts is also not guaranteed.
Others would not have access to their own money.
Customers are plagued by existential fears.
The consumer advice center and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) have long since become involved.
Postbank promises improvement, but it doesn't deal with the problems completely transparently.
“No institutions that even come close to the Postbank benchmark”
“With regard to the problems with estates and other problem areas, there are currently no institutions that even come close to the Postbank benchmark,” is the devastating verdict of David Riechmann, specialist lawyer for banking and capital market law, from the consumer advice center.
There are “very isolated complaints, but nothing so widespread,” explains the consumer advocate when
asked by
wa.de.
Postbank, now a Deutsche Bank brand, justifies the problems with a “transfer of 12 million Postbank customers to Deutsche Bank’s IT platform”.
This was one of “the largest IT migration projects in the European banking sector” and was “crucial in creating the basis for digital offerings from Deutsche Bank and Postbank.”
The fact that these massive problems are still occurring is because the complexity and scope of the program were “immense”.
Postbank admits mistakes
“From a technology perspective, Unity was a success,” it continues.
50 billion data records from the 12 million Postbank customers were “migrated without any problems”.
But Postbank also admits mistakes.
“However, we should have provided Postbank customers with additional support: in the call centers and in processing their concerns.
We would approach this differently today,” explains a spokesman when
asked by
wa.de.
Numerous customers recently contacted
wa.de
and described their problems.
Most people don't get access to their inheritance, and some also have problems with seizure protection accounts.
“Postbank always only answers succinctly and does not release the account,” writes one affected customer.
“Several email inquiries to Postbank were not answered.
A reply email received from Postbank only recommended that I submit my request in writing to Postbank Bonn, which I did.
But no answer to that either,” writes another.
Still others explain that they cannot access their accounts or that account closures take an unnaturally long time.
Legal pressure on Postbank is growing
Customer dissatisfaction is one thing.
Meanwhile, legal pressure on Postbank is also growing.
As
wa.de
research showed, the Bonn (NRW) regional court received 74 lawsuits against Postbank in 2022, and in 2023 this number increased many times over to 448 lawsuits.
What it was or is about in detail cannot be said.
According to reports, an estimated 50 to 60 percent of the cases in 2023 had to do with online banking fraud.
Whether customer problems also contributed to this rapid increase in lawsuits against Postbank would be pure speculation.
However, Postbank is still not in a position to do so, as this is another problem area that it has to address.
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In addition, Bafin also has its eye on the Postbank.
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority is subject to the legal and technical supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance and, according to its own information, is intended to supervise banks and financial service providers, private insurance companies and securities trading, where it is also responsible for collective consumer protection.
Out-of-court dispute resolution
“Affected people can take advantage of the advice offered by consumer advice centers.
Furthermore, out-of-court dispute resolution by the responsible ombudsmen may be considered,” explains a spokesman for Bafin.
The address is therefore: Ombudsman of the private banks, office, PO Box 04 03 07, .10062 Berlin.
“Customers who believe that they have suffered financial damage or lost profits must assert their claims against the company in court,” it says.
Deutsche Bank must correct deficiencies
“Last year, Bafin ordered that Deutsche Bank quickly, completely and permanently eliminate deficiencies in Postbank and DSL Bank’s order processing and quickly process customer orders that had not yet been processed,” explains a Bafin spokesman when asked
by
wa.de.
In September 2023, Bafin appointed a special representative to ensure this.
“The special representative reports to the supervisory authority and remains at the institute until the deficiencies in order processing at Postbank and DSL Bank have been completely remedied,” it continues.
Postbank itself explains: “We have made great progress in processing the backlog of customer inquiries since the summer - thanks in part to more than 800 additional workers for these tasks.” When asked, a spokesman did not want to answer whether the bank was now staffed with enough staff .
He also did not want to comment on how many people are ultimately affected by the problems.
“Processing the remaining backlogs is complex and sometimes takes more time.
We will therefore not finally process some of these cases until the beginning of 2024,” it simply says.
The Bafin will also keep an eye on whether this actually works.
“The aim of the measure is to quickly restore normal banking services to Postbank and DSL Bank customers, as contractually agreed and legally required,” explains a Bafin spokesman.
In this way, Bafin is “fulfilling its legal mandate for collective consumer protection and can intervene on a supervisory basis if the urgently needed improvements in order processing at Postbank and DSL Bank do not materialize.”