A technical glitch that caused some SunTrust Banks customers to be hit twice for bills paid online appears to have also affected other transactions, the bank said Monday.
The technical problem not only affected certain customers with automatic withdrawals through SunTrust’s online bill paying system, but other “client-initiated” transactions as well, Hugh Suhr, a spokesman for Atlanta-based SunTrust, said in an e-mail.
Suhr maintained that no more clients were affected than previously thought, describing the number as a “small percentage.” He declined to say what other types of transactions were affected.
On Saturday, SunTrust reported some customers’ accounts were mistakenly drawn twice for online bill paying transactions posted the night before. Suhr said the bank found other transactions were affected as it researched the issue.
SunTrust is the No. 1 bank in metro Atlanta by deposits, holding $25.3 billion, or 23 percent of the market’s deposits, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
SunTrust said the problem caused an abnormal volume of calls to the company’s customer service lines into Monday afternoon. Mistakenly drawn funds will be returned and the bank said it also will address any fees triggered by errant transactions.
Suhr said errant transactions would be permanently reversed by Monday evening.
SunTrust first announced the issue via its Twitter and Facebook accounts. Some customers complained on Facebook of long waits through the company’s help line. Others thanked the company for using social media to alert clients.
Jocelyn Clark, of Roswell, said she learned of the issue through news reports, and was disappointed she wasn’t contacted directly.
Clark said the issue was more an inconvenience than a financial hindrance.
“But I can imagine some people took a $300 shock and they’d be in big trouble,” she said.
