Some Wells Fargo customers found their bank accounts drained to zero Wednesday when some sort of glitch caused their online bill payments to be processed twice.
Numerous customers -- so many that Wells Fargo’s customer service phone lines were jammed Wednesday night -- were discovering that recent payments they had made using the bank’s online Bill Pay system had been deducted twice from their checking accounts.
In some cases, that sent customers’ balances to zero -- or below zero -- and triggered the possibility of overdraft protection fees. Some customers received email notices telling them that they now had no money in their checking accounts.
Customers who waited out the hour-plus wait to reach a customer service representative Wednesday night were being told that their accounts would be fixed overnight. By Thursday morning, some customers did report seeing their accounts restored to normal.
“We are aware of the online Bill Pay situation which was caused by an internal processing error,” Wells Fargo communications manager Hilary O’Byrne said in a statement late Wednesday. “We are currently working to correct it, and there is no action required for impacted customers at this time. Any fees or charges that may have been incurred as a result of this error will be taken care of. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
O’Byrne declined to say how many customers were affected or to describe how the double charges occurred.
In the meantime, customers took to social media to share their shock and frustration over not being able to access the money that should have been in their checking accounts.
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