HSBC had issues this morning, leaving hundreds of customers unable to access their accounts.
Problems started shortly after 7.30am, according to Downdetector, with reports of problems with both mobile and online banking.
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The website collects status reports from customers of various websites.
Reports of issues from HSBC customers this morning were largely from London as well as Manchester and Cardiff.
On social media, customers berated the bank for having issues.
One said: “Are you having issues this morning, my standing order hasn’t gone out of my account and the app won’t show my accounts or payees. Mortgage money is due to go out today.”
Others questioned whether the outage was an April Fool’s Day joke: “Online and mobile app banking services down today 1st of April?”
Another said: “You’ve done a mobile banking app update and now my payees page won’t load – wth? Fix please I need to pay people!”
The bank responded to customers on social media recommending they call the online banking team on 03456 002 290.
On March 25, the bank tweeted that it would be making some “essential updates” between 1.30am and 5.30am on Saturday April 2, and that customers would not be able to use online or mobile banking between these times.
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The bank ran into problems last month too, with customers complaining on social media about a glitch that left them unable to use the banking app or make payments.
It also upset customers in March when it announced plans to close a further 69 bank branches across the UK.
An HSBC spokesman said: “There was no outage and the service has now recovered. Customers did not having issues accessing the app or online banking.
“For a short time this morning not all customers were able to make a payment through the app at the first attempt. Most payment requests were immediately successful.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
The bank usually updates customers on tech issues through its service status page.
Can I get compensation?
Banks are not automatically obliged to pay compensation if they suffer an outage or service disruption.
This is different to other types of businesses such as telecoms, which must do so.
If you have been left out of pocket as a result of an outage however, you can make a complaint to your bank.
This could be because you’ve been charged a fee because a bill wasn’t paid on time as a result, or because you’ve gone into your overdraft because of the outage.
Each bank has it’s own complaints procedure, so it’s best to check yours.
With HSBC, you can complain in your local branch or using its online complaints form.
You will need to provide evidence of how you have been affected, and explain what you expect from your bank by way of compensation.
What to do if you can’t access your money
If you can’t access your money and you need to urgently, here’s what to do:
- Visit your local branch as soon as you can.
- If you can’t get there, or it is closed, call your bank and ask for its guidance on what to do.
- If the bank’s phone services are also down or busy, try contacting your bank on social media to ask what to do. But remember: don’t ever share your account details over social media.
- Try to do this on the day the problem arises so you can show you made every attempt to solve the issue.
- If you still can’t access your money, begin gathering evidence for a complaint.
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