What is earliest recorded Y2K problem?

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In the fall of 1978, I had paid a credit union loan far enough ahead (to the year 2000...) that the credit union erroneously bounced an $18,000 check. The reason? The computer figured I hadn't paid on the loan since 1900!

Wait, there's more. I complained. Loudly. And was assured that the problem would never happen again.

It didn't, until April of 1979, when the credit union bounced a check that I had written to the IRS! Same reason. Both times, there was plenty of money in the account, both times the computer failed to handle the money correctly. That time, the credit union stated that they were replacing their code with new code. They apparently did, as the problem did not recur.

Any earlier stories?

-- Raymond Lloyd Phoenix (rayphoenix@hotmail.com), August 20, 1998

Answers

Supposedly, the banks saw their 30-year mortage calculators crap out in 1970. So they've known for 30 years, & have no excuse when the rest of their programs mess up.

There's a story about how in 1970, a Navy computer was using ONE digit years, assuming everything was 1960-something. It also presented problems.

-- Larry Kollar (lekollar@nyx.net), August 20, 1998.


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