Sailors who had their bank accounts and credit limits wrecked by duplicate charges from Navy child care and morale program fees should see the money in their accounts soon.
Installations command spokeswoman Capt. Wendy Snyder confirmed that the Navy’s payment processor, Bank of America, has reversed all $5.3 million in false charges. It is up to sailors’ banks to complete the processing, Snyder said.
Commander and Naval Installations Command is still working with individual institutions, including Navy Federal, to help sailors hit with late or overdraft fees as a result of the screw up, according to a new release.
“The Navy is working with individual banks asking if they will waive any overdraft or late fee charges on individual bank or credit card accounts affected by this error,” the release said. “Currently Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) is working to identify the impacted members in order to take proactive steps to reverse the duplicate transactions and refund any associated fees. Fees caused by the duplicate transaction will be refunded or waived.”
If banks won’t refund the fees, morale, welfare and recreation will, the release said. If the money is not returned within 10 days, sailors should contact the help lineor call 844-697-4357.
Sailors can complete the claim form here. Claimants will need to print a copy of the statement showing the late fee for reimbursement, the release said.
On Sept. 24, about 133,000 duplicate charges came out of sailors’ bank accounts and credit cards when a server switch-out at Navy Installations Command Support Services in Tennessee activated dormant transaction files from between January and June.
The charges were for everything from youth leagues fees and concessions to child care costs, which for some sailors totaled thousands of dollars. The changes affected sailors in Japan, Guam, Korea, and Monterey, California, and sailors who were stationed there and had transferred since.
The mistake left hundreds of sailors in desperate financial straits and sent CNIC scrambling to reverse the charges.
“We understand that this is not some minor inconvenience for you,” said Cmdr. Ron Flanders, spokesman for Navy Region Japan, in a video posted on the command’s Facebook page.
“Hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars were charged to your credit cards. And even worse, for those of you who like to use debit cards for your purchases, money was taken out of your checking account that was not accounted for because you had already paid off these services and this has caused a serious impact on you.”
