HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A large Hawaii credit union is scrambling to correct errors after its mainland electronic banking processor caused many people to see thousands of dollars disappear from their accounts.
The Hawaii Community Federal Credit union on the Big Island was reassuring customers that by Friday evening they should have received their unpaid paychecks and money erroneously charged from their accounts. Credit union customers began to notice the problems Thursday.
Hawaii News Now heard from several who say they were double-charged for automated or electronic payments, including one small businesses entire payroll. Some didn’t get the money they expected on this payday. The concern exploded on social media.
Melia Lino said she noticed her balance was too low and that thousands of dollars had disappeared in a duplicate payment. She went to the Kona Branch looking for answers.
“But our branch manager let us know that we will be giving the money back. And I was like, I hope so,” she said. “There’s so many people that I know. I mean, between all the people that I know its probably $50,000 we’re all out total. It just has been kind of alarming.”
On Friday afternoon, Hawaii Community FCU also issued a statement apologizing to its members for the stress and inconvenience.
The statement said the problems originated at their mainland electronic payment clearinghouse and reversing the errors was delayed by personnel and time zone issues.
The statement said they hoped all issues would be resolved by the end of Friday.
They pledged to waive or reimburse any fees or penalties caused by the inconvenience.
One banking industry expert said that some credit unions may have been impacted by a delay in the federal central banks July 5th global delay in delivering electronic payment data.
Hawaii Community FCU said the problems began that day.
Iris Ikeda, state Commissioner of Financial Institutions, said her agency does not regulate credit unions but said Hawaii Community FCU’s CEO had called her to reassured her the situation was being resolved.
Source : HawaiiNewsNow
