Computer Glitch Causes Credit Woes

A few wrong keystrokes in millions of lines of computer code were responsible for the glitches some people have seen recently when using debit, credit or ATM cards, a Bellevue company says.

TransAlliance Services of Bellevue switched to a new computer system in mid-November and quickly began hearing of problems from customers.

Problems included double-billing for some purchases, denying some credit or debit cards despite sufficient funds in the accounts and long waits at automatic teller machines.

TransAlliance is the connecting point between financial institutions that offer credit and debit cards and automatic teller machines, and the retailers who use these point-of-sale services.

Dumler did not know exactly how many financial institutions were affected or how many accounts or transactions may have been mishandled.

The company has 300 financial institution clients.

The problems have been corrected, the company said.