BBC Breakfast viewers were stopped in their tracks on Friday (February 28) when presenter Charlie Stayt interrupted the show with some “breaking news”.
As the programme was drawing to a close, Charlie dropped the bombshell that several high street banks, including Nationwide and First Direct, were experiencing problems with their online banking services.
“Just wanting to bring you news of a story that we’re just hearing about. Nationwide and First Direct are saying that some customers may be facing problems with online banking,” he said, breaking the news.
“Now, it is affecting some incoming and outgoing payments, leaving many without access to funds on pay day at the end of the month,” co-presenter Naga Munchetty chimed in, before handing over to correspondent Ben Boulos.
“[It’s the] last Friday of the month, a lot of people will be wanting to check, wanting to access their money to pay bills and so on. What we’re hearing, this news breaking in the last few minutes, is that Nationwide, First Direct, Lloyds and Halifax all confirming issues with their online banking systems,” Ben detailed, reports the Express.
“This is the second month in a row that major banks have been hit with some sort of IT issues around pay day. The experts are saying that often these systems struggle with the sheer demand on them, the transactions, the number of people trying to log in… Wages going in, bills going out, that sort of thing.”
Ben offered reassurance to those having trouble with their banking apps this morning, stating: “So, if people are, this morning, struggling to log in to any of those banking apps, they’re not alone. It’s not an issue with their own phone or their computer, this is a system with the bank apps themselves.”
Wrapping up, he said: “There’s no indication about what’s behind this, but obviously people will be concerned.”
He advised viewers: “It’s worth saying, keep an eye on the BBC News Channel, keep an eye on the app and our website. That story will be followed throughout the day with any updates that people need, they can find them there.”
Data from platform outage tracker Downdetector showed a spike in reports indicating trouble with the Lloyds Bank app, topping over 4,000 complaints on Friday morning. Halifax customers weren’t far behind with 3,600 grievances lodged.
TSB and Bank of Scotland were also hit by the disruption, with 900 and 600 reported problems, respectively.
The current tech snags followed a Barclays mobile banking glitch back in January which left UK users in the lurch on payday. The hiccup dragged on for days for some, hampering crucial transactions and purchases of essentials.
Prompted by these outages, the Treasury Committee has dispatched letters to the chiefs of nine banks requesting details about the extent and influence of IT mishaps on their patrons.
BBC Breakfast airs daily on BBC One at 6am