A NUMBER OF BANK OF IRELAND customers had difficulty in accessing funds yesterday, before the ATM glitch saw the machines dispense more money to some people than they actually had in their accounts.

Earlier yesterday, BOI customers were unable to withdraw money from ATMs, although customers from other banks were able to take money out of BOI ATMs.

The problem also affected BOI’s internet banking.

A spokesperson for the bank said yesterday that an “unforeseen technical issue” affected the bank’s operating systems and although branches were open, they were operating a temporary restricted cash service.

Due to the glitch, some customers were able to withdraw cash from ATMs, but only at reduced amounts.

“Unauthorised overdrafts”

Yesterday evening, queues began forming at BOI ATMs as people heard that the machines were now distributing more money than had been requested, even to people with insufficient funds in their accounts.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, Vincent Brennan BOI’s head of ATMs said there was a problem with the connectivity between customer systems and the mainframe, meaning customers couldn’t use online banking, and had limited laser card use.

He said core systems were operating correctly so all customer accounts were up to date at the bank, and all payments were carried out. The bank decided to allow customers continued access to funds, despite the technical issues, and a small minority of customers were able to access more funds than they should have been able to.

Bank of Ireland told TheJournal.ie that a “small minority of customers” withdrew funds in excess of their available balance.

BOI will refund overlimit fees applied to transactions where people became “inadvertently overdrawn” during the affected period, and will allow an interest-free period for the amount involved.