NatWest app failure leaves customers unable to access online accounts or pay bills
THE NatWest banking app and website went down, leaving customers unable to access online banking.
People were reporting issues all morning, including being unable to send payments or sort bills.
NatWest has confirmed the issue, but says that it has now been resolved. The banks says that a system failure was at fault and that not all customers were affected.
If you’re still having problems, you should try restarting your phone and then rebooting the app.
If you’re still having urgent problems, you can ring 03457 404 404, but be warned many customers are reporting extremely long wait times on the phone.
A recent customer services tweet says that the current wait time to speak to a member of the team is around 54 minutes due to higher call volumes.
The outage caused significant headaches for customers, with many reporting that they could see their balance, but couldn’t make any transactions or payments.
Customers said they were receiving an error message on the app and through the website, including when accessed via a computer browser.
Some customers also seemed to be reporting that contactless payments were not working, although using chip and pin seemed to be unaffected.
Business banking customers say they were facing the same problems.
It is not known exactly how many customers have been impacted, but hundreds have reported the issue on DownDetector with hundreds more complaining on Twitter.
One customer, Mary, said that her payments have been declined twice this morning.
Another user, Emily, tweeted: “I can’t log in and when I do manage to log in, not all my accounts are there and it won’t load any transactions!”
A third added that she is on holiday with no access to funds. She said: “I am trying to use contactless payment and it’s not working, online banking also says unavailable. I’m on holiday too and only have my card!”
And HerbieGooner tweeted: “I’ve just had contactless payments declined via Apple Watch and iPhone – also can’t access my banking app. Seems like a wider problem.”
A statement on NatWest’s Twitter account reads: “We’re aware some customers are having problems using Online & Mobile Banking.
“We’re really sorry and are working hard to fix this. You can check back here for updates or if your query is urgent please call us on 03457 404 404.”
This is not the first time a tech failure has left NatWest customers high and dry.
An outage in August meant customers were unable to access online banking services through their apps.
How to claim compensation for major app, bank account and card issues
Banks don’t have to pay out compensation to customers if there has been a drop in service, unlike telecoms companies.
But that doesn’t mean that you may be eligible for compensation in some cases.
If you’ve incurred costs as a result of service issues, you’re likely to get your money back.
For example, if a bill payment didn’t go through as a result of an outage and you’ve been charged a fee for missing it, you should be able to claim that money back.
Money.co.uk personal finance expert James Andrews told The Sun: “If you’ve lost out as a result of the service interruption, contact your bank and tell them what’s happened and what it cost you.
“Provide as much evidence as possible of any charges you’ve incurred as a result of not being able to access your bank account to have the best chance of a refund.”
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