‘It makes me feel scared’: Winnipeg woman says bank drained her account without warning

A Winnipeg woman has been left feeling powerless after she says RBC withdrew the balance of her account without telling her.

“I should be able to stay with my mom while she goes through surgery because of cancer and not be punished because somebody at Royal Bank made an error,” said Lena Joseph.

Joseph, who declined a consecutive work contract up north to stay with her mom during cancer surgery, says it all started when she got a phone call on Friday, September 5, from her bank, informing her they deposited extra money in her account back in July.

“I said I never noticed that, as far as I’m concerned, it’s not in my transactions. I looked at that time again, didn’t see the transaction. I requested if he could provide me with some documentation and proof. He said no problem, let’s reconnect Monday morning.”

But later that day, she went to buy her mom a coffee on her way to the hospital and couldn’t. She says her account had been drained.

“We weren’t able to go get groceries. We didn’t have gas,” she explained.

The single mom called the bank back multiple times. She says it wasn’t until she called the national number that the local representative she spoke to previously got back to her.

“He was very rude. He acted like he was the victim… He stated that he was authorized to touch my money without asking or even letting me know prior to. Which is insane to me.”

Joseph says the representative said he’d get his manager to call her – but she never did. Joseph says despite repeated attempts, she had not heard back from RBC – until Friday afternoon, after CityNews reached out to the bank for comment.

She says they apologized and offered to set up a repayment plan, which was all she wanted.

“I have no problem, when provided with proof, to pay back this money. I am successful when I am working, so it’s not an issue. It’s just the fact that I was treated like he was the victim and I did something to him,” said Joseph.

RBC also responded to CityNews’ request, saying they can’t comment due to client privacy, but echoed what Joseph said – that they reached out to her to set up a repayment plan.

But she still wants to warn others – hoping they don’t suffer the same stress.