BTM computer error leaves Net-bankers out of pocket

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi charged users of its online banking service excessive transfer fees for more than one year due to a computer error, bank officials said Wednesday. Its Internet-based transfer and settlement service for individuals, called Tokyo-Mitsubishi Direct, overcharged customers in some 840 cases for a combined excess payment of 130,000 yen, the officials said.

The major commercial bank will return the overcharged portion of the transfer fees as soon as possible and fix the computer system problem, they said.

Remittance fees differ, depending on the amounts of money to be sent.

Introduced in September last year, the online service charged a fee of 210 yen, 105 yen higher than the amount set, for users remitting amounts of between 30,000 yen and 30,209 yen, including transfer fees, from their accounts to an account at other Tokyo-Mitsubishi branches.

In the case of money being transferred to accounts at other banks, a fee of 367 yen was charged for remitting more than 30,000 yen, including transfer fees, instead of the correct amount of 210 yen.

A customer inquiry at the end of last month made the bank realize the problem, the officials said.

The Japan Times: Nov. 9, 2000

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-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), November 09, 2000