Two major banking apps DOWN for millions of customers
TWO major banking apps have gone down today leaving millions of customers without access to their accounts.
Customers at both NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland have been unable to access their online banking accounts.
Reports on Downdector have shown a combined total of over 3,000 savers have been unable to access their money.
Customers have taken to X, formally known as Twitter, to complain about the tech issue.
One NatWest user said: “I just can’t log in. I have tried closing and re-opening the app”.
Another said, “How long will it be until it’s resolved? I need to access some money.”
The British bank told customers on social media that the team is “working hard to get things resolved as soon as possible but has not been provided a time frame”.
Meanwhile, The Royal Bank of Scotland said they were experiencing “connection issues”.
An online post reads: “We have been receiving reports that the online banking and mobile app are experiencing connection issues.
“We are currently looking into getting this resolved.
“Thanks so much for your patience. We’re sorry for any inconvenience. Please try again later.”
Customer trying to access their accounts online were met with a message telling them: “Some kind of error has occurred.”
It will come as a blow to the millions of customers unable to get their hands on cash ahead of the weekend.
Both The Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest are subsidiaries of NatWest Group.
The firm has slashed its portfolio of in-person sites in recent years as customers increasingly favour digital banking.
Can I claim compensation for an outage?
Banks aren’t obliged to pay compensation to customers if there’s been an outage or if they’ve experienced technical issues.
But you might be entitled to some money back depending on how much the disruption affected you.
You’ll have to present evidence of how the outage negatively impacted you, including any extra costs incurred through late payment fees for instance.
You should make a note of when you were unable to access the services and the names of the people you spoke to at the bank that suffered the outage.
How to check if your bank is down
THERE are a few different ways to find out if your bank is experiencing an outage.
Senior consumer reporter Olivia Marshall explains how you can check.
If you’re trying to send money to someone, or you just want to check if you have enough cash for a coffee, finding your online banking is down can be a real pain.
Most banks have a dedicated news page on their website to show service problems, including internet banking, mobile apps, ATMs, debit cards and credit cards.
You can also check on any future work they have planned and what it might mean for you.
Plus, you can check websites such as Down Detector, which will tell you whether other people are experiencing problems with a particular company online.
If your bank doesn’t resolve your complaint, you can take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
It is an independent body which will resolve any issues based on what it thinks is “fair and reasonable” depending on the circumstances of the case.
The service can resolve your issue over the phone, by email or post depending on what best suits you.
In the case of an IT system outage at a bank, the FOS says any compensation you may receive will be dependent on your circumstances and whether you lost any money as a result.
If it finds the bank was at fault, you may see any fees, charges or fines reimbursed.