Report: Wells Fargo bill payment glitch emptying some accounts

An apparent glitch with the Wells Fargo online bill payment system led to some payments being processed twice late Wednesday and even to some accounts being emptied out by the double processing, reports the Austin American-Statesman.

The issue resulted in the bank’s customer service lines being jammed, the newspaper says.

Wells Fargo took to Twitter to acknowledge it was having problems:

Some customers may be having an issue with their Bill Pay transactions. We are working to fix the issue and resolve this tonight. Thanks for your patience.

— Wells Fargo (@WellsFargo) January 18, 2018

In some cases, the American-Statesman says, customers’ balances were reduced to zero — which could trigger overdraft protection fees. Some customers got emails saying their checking accounts had nothing in them.

“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,” the newspaper says.

Unhappy customers were flocking to social media to vent their frustrations.