CBA scambling to respond to ‘double billing’ banking glitch

Commonwealth Bank has slugged thousands of customers extra for transactions after the bank’s systems double billed many for spending on their card.

Commonwealth Bank has slugged thousands of customers extra for transactions after the bank’s systems double billed many for spending on their card.. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Commonwealth Bank is scrambling to track down the cause of a major glitch which “double billed” thousands of customers for their spending, sparking alarm with the nation’s financial regulators.

CBA said it was now reinstating customers’ cash after a problem with the bank’s systems saw it bill customers repeatedly for the same transaction on Saturday, causing some to lose their life savings and triggering a meltdown of the bank’s online and phone platforms.

Some CBA customers also reported other transactions made in the lead up to Saturday were also being billed twice, resulting in their accounts being emptied.

CBA acknowledged the double transaction fault on Saturday morning, telling customers the bank was aware of the issue and “working to reverse these transactions as a matter of urgency”.

However, customers continued to report they were being slugged twice for spending throughout the day, with CBA left scrambling to fix the issue.

In an update in the afternoon on Saturday CBA reported it had resolved the double transaction issue noting “the process to reverse these is underway”.

The bank told customers the process would be completed over “the coming hours”, noting those who found themselves in financial difficulty after the glitch emptied accounts could seek a temporary overdraft.

A CBA spokeswoman told The Australian the bank had now resolved the issue with its banking platform “where some customers experienced duplicate transactions in their accounts”.

“The process to reverse these transactions has been complete,” she said.

“Please be assured any fees charged will be refunded. Customers do not need to contact us to request this.”

However, customers continue to report double charged transactions appearing on their accounts on Sunday, with thousands of dollars missing.

One customer reported online they had been charged twice for a $57,000 private surgery on Saturday.

CBA is now chasing down the cause of the crisis, with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission understood to be closely liaising with the bank over the double payments glitch.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, which oversees the nation’s banking and insurance sector, is also monitoring the situation but a spokesman declined to comment.

A CBA spokeswoman did not respond when asked about its engagement with regulators, noting the bank was “unable to comment on specific instances of regulatory engagement including on this matter”.

“As part of our standard process we engage regulators as required and keep them informed,” she said.

APRA can force banks to lift standards or force them to hold more cash if they fail to satisfy the regulator’s concerns.

The regulator recently slapped ANZ with a $250m capital charge over “non-financial” risks.

The technical issues around CBA’s platform also saw access to CBA’s banking app, phone lines and online banking crippled, with the lender deluged by customers.

CBA told customers it had resolved the issues accessing its bank app by Saturday evening.

The technical meltdown also saw CBA customers targeted by scammers, seeking to capitalise on the accounts outage and difficulties accessing online banking.

CBA warned customers “to be aware of increased scam activity” on the back of the crisis.