Customers who used Citibank’s mobile app for the iPad tablet probably assumed they were on the cutting edge of technology. Here’s what they weren’t expecting: a technical glitch that charged some of them twice when they paid bills.
The New York Times reports that this problem began shortly after Citi — the fourth-largest bank in the U.S. — launched its iPad app in July. It declined to tell the Times how many people were affected by this error, saying only it was a “limited number” of customers and “fewer than 2 percent” of iPad app-based transactions. The bank said the bug was confined to the app, although the Times says some double-charged customers say they hadn’t used it.
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Citi has said it will reimburse customers the overage they inadvertently paid, along with fees incurred if they overdrew their account as a result of the technical bug. (TIME Moneyland has asked for clarification to find out if this also includes fees customers would be subject to from third parties if their accounts were overdrawn.)
Given that some customers seem to have voiced complaints about this issue soon after the app debuted, it’s unclear why it’s taken until February for the issue to be resolved. It was late December when Citi tracked the bug to its source, and mid-January when it began to notify customers.
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In mid-2011, hackers breached Citigroup’s credit card division and stole data on approximately 360,000 customers.
