BNZ apologises for mixing up deposits and accounts

The Bank of New Zealand is apologising to customers whose money it wrongly put into other people's accounts.

The bank's head of operations for credit cards, Bernie O'Loughlin, last night blamed human error. He said very few customers were affected, but he was not free to say how many, and he did not know how much money was involved.

The bank was working hard to identify affected payments and would ensure customers were not disadvantaged, he said.

"Any interest charged as a result will be reversed and we will be writing to each customer affected with an apology and explanation."

It was unlikely that any of the accounts into which the money went were interest-earning accounts, he said. If they were debit accounts and the interest owing to the bank was reduced by interest on misdirected deposits, the bank would not ask for the interest to be repaid.

One customer, Kaukapakapa mother-of-two Suzanne Bedford, said she was surprised when she tried to use her credit card to buy groceries last Friday and the transaction was declined.

By internet transaction, she had shifted $2500 from the National Bank to the BNZ on January 19.

She complained to both banks on Saturday. Initially, the BNZ told her that the money had not arrived from the National Bank, but later explained that the money had gone into someone else's account.