Gemma Ramage had just started a new job and expected her first pay to go into her Hume Bank account on Monday afternoon, but it didn’t turn up until late on Wednesday.

“I made numerous phone calls and spoke to managers and they kept saying it was a problem with their provider and lots of banks had been affected,” Ms Ramage said.

“I told them I still had kids to feed and I needed petrol for the car and they said they could put $50 in my account until it came through.

“I’m going to be changing banks, I can’t afford to have this happen again.”

The problem, according to Hume Bank chief executive David Marshall, was an issue with a third-party company called First Data, which processed payments between financial institutions. But it wasn’t just Hume Bank customers that were affected.

Across Australia, tens of thousands of people were impacted by a problems with “settlement files” – the way financial institutions send money to each other.

In a statement, First Data said “technical issues when processing settlement files delayed funds from being deposited into clients’ customer accounts”.

Mr Marshall said he was personally disappointed that First Data had let Hume’s customers down.

“We will pursue our service provider to make sure they learn from this incident so the industry is not put in this position again,” Mr Marshall said.

“There were some issues related to some transfers processed on Monday and the files have been corrected. There are a very small number of related files we’re still finalising.”

However, Mr Marshall’s explanation was of no comfort to Ms Ramage.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to use a middle man, I was never informed that someone else would have details of my payments,” she said.

“Everyone else I work with is with one of the big four banks and they weren’t affected, so I’m going to change to one of them.”

Any affected Hume Bank customers with questions or in need of an advance should call 1300 004 863, visit www.humebank.com.au or go into their nearest branch.