BMO Harris is trying to determine how widespread a problem it has after it sent some customers not only their own tax forms, but also forms belonging to other bank customers.
Customers who contacted the Chicago Tribune said they opened their mailings this week to find personal information of another customer — identified by name, address, account number, fund amount and last four digits of the Social Security number.
BMO Harris, which serves more than 2 million customers, does not yet know how many customers were affected.
“We can confirm we experienced a processing issue on a regular tax-related mailing,” spokeswoman Emily Penate said in a statement. “The safeguarding of customer information is of paramount importance to us and we are currently (assessing) the issue to determine the cause.”
The problem affected tax Form 5498, which details a customer’s IRA contributions for 2016 and the retirement plan’s fair market value, Penate said.
What appears to have happened is that a sheet of paper that was supposed to be cut and sent to two different customers was instead folded and sent to one, she said.
The company will mail apology letters to affected customers and new tax forms to customers who did not receive a form at all.
“We are still looking into the matter since it was reported yesterday,” Penate said on Thursday. The mailings went out early this week.
Meantime, the bank’s customer service call center is advising customers who call to keep an eye on their credit report, she said.
