Massive BBVA error causes double overdraft charges

SPAIN Some 80,000 direct debit Orange clients were impacted recently by an error made by BBVA. Also affected were a considerable number of power and water company clients in Sevilla, Córdoba, Madrid and Valencia, among others. It all started when BBVA charged twice for direct debits that it handles for other entities, which in many cases left clients with unintended overdrafts that were then charged for the privilege. In some cases, the charges were doubled. In its response to questions from FACUA, the consumer organization, the bank did not give accurate numbers of the clients affected, but did say that everything was being done to put things right as soon as possible.The organization also contacted the companies involved, most of which reported that they had already returned most of the money they had received by error. FACUA warns, however, that many bank clients had not even noticed that they had been charged twice for the same item, and a significant number had not seen that they had been charged for, in many cases, were small overdrafts that were not the client's fault. FACUA pointed out that if a client had had to make use of chargeable phone numbers to contact their suppliers or banks (usually a 902 number), they had a right to claim the cost back.