By 
In March 2025, I noticed some discrepancies with one of my accounts at Republic Bank and although I spoke with personnel from the bank the situation remained unchanged. I was assured that the problem was a ‘computer glitch’ that would sort itself out over the weekend and my account would be in order; nothing of the sort happened! Customers would usually complain on social media or in the print media about missing funds from their accounts and online shopping would often be cited as the reason given by the bank. I believe that the consequences of mistakes/errors made by employees and/or the system are often passed on to the customer. The customer ends up paying for the bank’s mistakes and instead of improving their system, taking responsibility and treating the customer fairly they pass the buck and do not address the issue.
I sent the ‘letter’ below to the newspapers for them to print in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section because I not only wanted my issue to be addressed but felt that others may have had similar problems with their accounts. My letter was not published so I decided to complain to the Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission. To date, I have not received any update on the matter. While the disputed sum is small, my complaint is about principles and trust. The bank should honour the transactions it approved and operate in a fair and ethical manner.
Previously, I had cause to complain publicly about the same bank (I need my refund from Republic Bank and What is the definition of a signature?).
Dear Editor,
Republic Bank took money from my account without my authorisation
I have a debit account with Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited (RBL) that according to my account information, has an overdraft limit of GYD 0.00. I mainly use the account for online transactions. Whenever I want to do online shopping or make payments, I’d do an electronic funds transfer.
Last Tuesday, 4th March 2025, I did my transfer and made a purchase from a reputable US company (Merchant A). The transaction was approved by RBL; the reference number is 690922. I received email notification, and the required amount was put on hold. Then the following day I did another transfer and made a purchase from another well-known US company (Merchant B). My transaction was approved, and the reference number is 747071. I have the email from RBL and the amount for this merchant was also put on hold. In the past, I made many purchases from both merchants without encountering problems with the orders or financial transactions.
Last Friday, while checking my online banking platform I noticed discrepancies: a new transaction that I did not initiate labelled ‘teller withdrawal’, my account going into overdraft and ‘the hold’ for merchant B was released but the sum in my account was far less than what I had deposited for the purchase. Merchant A payment was cleared.
I visited the RBL branch on Water Street and spoke with two managers. I mentioned to them that the ‘teller withdrawal’ was not my doing and the transaction took thousands of dollars from my account, leaving it short to cover payment to Merchant B that had already shipped my order, and the transaction would have to be honoured by the bank. Both seemed lost as to what could have occurred and offered no clarification or resolution except to say that there was a computer glitch, and it should resolve by itself that afternoon or over the weekend.
Suddenly, that afternoon the transaction listed as ‘teller withdrawal’ was relisted as a duplicate transaction for an item from my order from Merchant A and I noted another duplicate transaction for another item. When I enquired from RBL about this, I was told to contact Merchant A. Merchant A stated that there were no duplicate transactions on their end and that the total amount due for the order was exactly what was taken.
Then a second ‘teller withdrawal’ that I did not initiate occurred on Monday. All the funds that I had in the account which had nothing to do with my two purchases were taken, my account was put into overdraft by a few thousand, and I was charged an overdrawn account fee. The ‘teller withdrawal’ was then relisted as payment to merchant B.
Editor, I am not responsible, nor am I prepared to take responsibility for Republic Bank’s computer glitches, manual or system errors. Last week Tuesday and Wednesday, I transferred more than the required sums for my single purchase from Merchant A and my single purchase from Merchant B, respectively. The exchange rate did not change, and I had a positive balance available in my account while the purchase amounts were ‘on hold’. Both transactions were initiated by me for fixed sums, and these were approved by the bank; I have the records. They were one-off purchases and not recurring charges/ subscriptions. Whatever happened days after I completed my transactions is not my responsibility, but that of RBL. I did not authorise RBL to pay more than what was defined in my transaction with Merchant A, and I did not authorise RBL to take more money from my account to cover the payment to Merchant B.
RBL needs to take responsibility and accountability for its own errors and not blatantly pass the buck to its customers, who contribute to it remaining a profitable entity. How utterly disrespectful! RBL needs to take some of its massive profits and improve its systems and customer service.
I want Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited to put back all the money it took from my account without authorisation to cover its own sloppy service. This includes all funds that had nothing to do with my two transactions, including the overdrawn amount and fee. They need to check their records, my transactions and go search for the errors. When they find them, use some of their massive profits to fix them and desist from daylight robbery. Also, as a shareholder of the bank what sort of value are they creating for people like me when they offer terrible customer service, ignore complaints from the public about their poor offerings and refuse to improve their output in terms of service and performance while boasting of raking in billions in profit off the Guyanese public?
Yours faithfully,
Narissa Deokarran
