Credit Reporting Mishap Affected 21,000 Fifth Third Customers

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) in Cincinnati has disclosed new details about a technological glitch that temporarily marred some customers' credit reports.

More than 21,000 customers were affected when Fifth Third's credit card processing provider TSYS mistakenly informed credit bureaus that they had filed for bankruptcy, the companies said in a news release Tuesday. The problem stemmed from a coding issue during a software change on Oct. 17.

TSYS sent corrected information to the credit bureaus after learning of the error, according to the release.

"We apologize to Fifth Third and its customers for the concern and inconvenience this situation has caused," TSYS Chairman and Chief Executive Phil Tomlinson said in the release. "As Fifth Third's service provider, we take responsibility for this error, and we have worked with Fifth Third and the credit bureaus to correct inaccurate reporting of the bank's customers."

Fifth Third began telling customers about the mistake in early February.