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SAN FRANCISCO — Bank of America offered more apologies than explanations Monday for a computer failure that temporarily blocked electronic deposits to customers in California, Nevada and Arizona during the weekend. 

A data processing problem prevented the Charlotte, N.C.-based company from registering direct deposits that were supposed to transfer Friday night to thousands of customer accounts. The glitch alarmed customers who checked their balances Saturday only to discover the money wasn’t in their accounts. 

By switching to a backup system, BofA credited the deposits to affected accounts by early Sunday morning, spokesman Harvey Radin said. The bank wouldn’t say how many customers were affected by the outage. The Los Angeles Times reported about 1.1 million BofA customers didn’t get their money on time. 

BofA plans to reimburse customers for any fees they may be charged because of the late deposits. 

The weekend lapse is unlikely to cause mass customer defections from BofA, predicted industry analyst Joseph Morford. 

“It’s just part of the price people pay to have an account at a big bank,” he said. “The service can be disappointing at times.” 

The breakdown shouldn’t raise concerns about the reliability of BofA’s direct deposit system, Radin said. 

“Hopefully, this won’t shake anyone’s confidence in direct deposit. It’s a great service,” he said. 

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