From the Northeast...
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars.
Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN'-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number -- a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).
Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee.
The bank corrected the error the next day.
Bank of America tells WMUR-TV only the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions. Visa, in turn, referred questions to the bank.
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Information from: WMUR-TV
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
North Texas man gets $23-quadrillion charge
DALLAS -- A north Texas man ended up with a charge on his Visa bill that's more than 2000 times the U.S. National debt.
"I have never seen a number that big before, let alone with a dollar sign beside it," says card holder Jon Seale.
"it's 23 quadrillion, 148 trillion, 855 billion, 308 million, 184 thousand and 5 hundred dollars."
According to Seale's online credit card statement, that's the amount he spent July 13th at a Dallas restaurant. Trying to clear his credit, this husband and father of five spent the day making calls to Wachovia and Visa.
Seale got a laugh when an on-hold recording chirped "If you are calling about incorrect balance we are working diligently to resolve the issue."
And what was behind this multi-quadrillion dollar bill?
A temporary programming error affecting a small number of Visa prepaid accounts, according to a spokesperson for the credit card company.
