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Technical glitch delays Indy man's paycheck

Posted at 11:15 PM, Oct 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-17 16:41:52-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- Pay day is supposed to be play day, or at least a chance to gas in the tank and pay bills.

One Indianapolis man can't do any of that because his paycheck still hasn't come.

"The only thing they can say for us is, 'We're sorry for the inconvenience,' and that's not paying the bills," Rico Vaughn said.

Vaughn uses a company called MetaBank for his direct deposit at work. 

"We usually get our money two days before payday, which is a big convenience," he said.

According to Vaughn, that meant he was supposed to be paid Friday. That didn't happen, so he waited until Monday. But there was still nothing. And by Tuesday, he still wasn't paid.

"MetaBank is making us dig deeper in our pockets for something they messed up," Vaughn said.

Vaughn uses his card for auto bill pay. Those charges are being declined and now he's getting charged fees.

In a statement, MetaBank said that their processing partner, FIS, is experiencing an issue. FIS said that's true in their own statement. 

"We are working to remediate the issue as quickly as possible and return the operations to business-as-usual operations," the company said.

Neither FIS nor MetaBank would say when the issue will be fixed, how many customers are affected or whether customers will be reimbursed for late fees or loans they have to take out.

Vaughn said he and his wife were forced to take out high-interest loans to get by in the meantime.

"We've got to buy coats for our kids," he said. "Our kids need coats because it's cold."

Now he's just hoping for a fast resolution and for his paycheck to be released so he can take care of his family.

"They just like holding our money hostage and they're just doing what they want to do," Vaughn said.

Vaughn said he's considering a lawsuit against the companies. He's also planning to use traditional banks in the future so this doesn't happen again.

Any MetaBank customers experiencing a similar problem can contact the bank here.

On Wednesday, MetaBank sent another statement saying that FIS is no longer experiencing the issue and the interruption has been fixed. Their operations are running normally.

"Meta is working closely with our clients to service the customers affected by the interruption," the company said.