CUSTOMERS of HSBC were left unable to make payments after technical issues – on the long awaited first pay day of the year for many.
Hundreds of users reported the issues with online banking on Friday morning which meant they could not make bank transfers to payees in the bank’s app.
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Reports of issues started at around 8am this morning (Friday, January 28) according to Downdetector.
HSBC says the issue is now resolved and apologised to those affected.
The bank told The Sun: “An earlier issue which meant some of our mobile banking customers experienced slow app service as well as difficulty viewing existing payees when making a payment has now been fixed.
“We apologise to those impacted for any inconvenience, and appreciate their patience.”
One customer earlier tweeted: “HSBC online banking payee selection option down. Essentially means their online banking is totally down. No updates online either. What a terrible banking service.”
Another said: “Is your online banking system currently down? “I can’t access my account through the mobile app or desktop browser online banking.
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Other customers complained the issue has left them unable to pay bills when they needed to.
One said: “Not the @hsbc_uk going down on pay day… need to pay my rent pleaaaase.”
Another tweeted: “It normally works absolutely fine for me but the one day I need to transfer money paid into my old account into my new so I can pay a very important bill, it doesn’t work.”
The complaints suggested that there is an issue accessing customers’ list of payees in the app.
Through banking apps you can usually set up a list of people you pay regularly instead of having to enter the bank details each time.
The bank usually updates customers on tech issues through its service status page.
According to downdetector, which tracks outages of major websites and services online, the issue appeared to affect those in several locations across the country.
One user affected shared a picture of a message they got when trying to make a payment.
It said: “Unable to load. Sorry, something went wrong while loading your accounts. Please try again.”
Can I claim compensation for an online banking outage?
There’s not automatic right to compensation like there is with other services, like telecoms.
You can make a complaint to your bank if you think you’re owed money because of an outage, for instance if you couldn’t pay a bill on time and were charged a fee as a result.
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Each bank has it’s own complaints procedure and you’ll need to show evidence of how the tech issues affected you.
You can then complain to HSBC, either in your local branch, or by using this complaints form.
You will need to think about how much you expect in compensation, and when you expect to receive it.
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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