Posted on May - 10 - 2010
Credit-card glitch snares nearly 12,000 customers of State Farm Bank
Nearly 12,000 State Farm Bank customers with Visa-branded credit cards have seen unauthorized and sometimes huge charges on their accounts recently, though the bank is working “feverishly” to fix the problem.
So far, nearly 80 percent of the affected customers have had their accounts corrected, said company spokesman Kip Diggs.
Search our databases
“There was a processing error on the part of one of our vendors, and we discovered the error late last week,” Diggs said. “We are working feverishly to get the rest of our customers taken care of.”
The bank’s “glitch” came to light between Wednesday and Friday of last week, Diggs said. Some credit card accounts had incorrect payment fees applied. Some check card accounts showed incorrect debits.
Memphian JoAn Howerton found an unauthorized $500 charge on her State Farm Visa credit card last week.
She was relived to find the charge was gone Monday, but horrified to find a $20,000 charge to the bank from her checking account the same day.
“I said, ‘Oh my god, what person’s ripped me off now?’” Howerton said.
A call to the bank revealed the processing error, but Howerton’s checking account showed a negative balance of nearly $19,000 Tuesday afternoon.
She said she only uses the card for travel and has payments directly debited from her checking account.
Diggs said he wasn’t sure which vendor was responsible for the error. An official close to Visa said the company does not issue cards and that the “payment network has not experienced any problems.”
Diggs said State Farm will clean up all of the accounts and pay any overdraft charges associated with the glitch.
Howerton said she was worried about the many others who are affected.
“I felt bad this happened to me, but at least I’ve got another income to rely on,” she said, noting her husband has a different account. “I feel worse when I think of the thousands of others who might not have.”
– Toby Sells: 529-2742
State Farm Bank
Headquarters: Bloomington, Ill.
Visa cards issued: more than 900,000
Contact: 1-877-734-2265
Online: statefarm.com/bank
Similar Posts:
- Temporary outage of Visa card network Sunday
- Some Essential Tips Regarding Business Credit Card Processing
- Sorting Though Student Credit Card Offers
- Class Action Alleges the Aspire VISA Secured Credit Card Violates the Credit Repair Act
- Applying For Credit Cards Over The Telephone
