The inadvertant processing of post-dated property tax cheques by the City of Victoria’s bank, RBC, has City and bank officials asking taxpayers to cheque their chequing account balances ASAP.
For some people, it could leave them short of funds for this long weekend.
Many people submit cheques for their property tax that are dated July 3, when the taxes are due, but RBC cashed some of those cheques on Thursday night, according to Ian Colvin, RBC’s regional director of communications for B.C. While he said the number of people affected appears to be small, it is significant enough to warrant notifying the public of the possibility they may incur bank fees or other penalties on their account, if the funds were not available yet.
“We want to move on this pretty quickly, and that’s why we wanted to notify people as soon as possible,” Colvin said, noting that RBC will cover any fees, service charges or overdraft interest incurred as a result of the error.
Step 1 for people is to check their account balance. If the funds were not yet withdrawn by now, they won’t likely come out until next Tuesday, as expected. Some people caught in this situation may have already noticed that the funds were withdrawn and dealt with it through their own financial institutions. For those who haven’t, Colvin recommends making that contact immediately if possible, or calling those institutions’ toll-free after-hours help lines. RBC customers or anyone with further questions can also call 1-800-769-2511.
The City of Victoria, meanwhile, issued a statement on its website that it is “working diligently with RBC and co-ordinating with them as they work to resolve this.”
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