Millions Of Pounds ‘Missing’ After Technical Glitch In Banking System

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Millions of pounds went missing following a technical glitch resulting in 600,000 payments going to and from RBS customers’ accounts disappearing overnight.

Customers of NatWest, Coutts, Ulster Bank and RBS have not been paid and direct debits have not been delivered as a result of the banking system error.

Customers are being told that their payments may not appear until Saturday.

The Mail Online report:

Furious customers today told of being put on hold for more than an hour when trying to resolve the issue after checking accounts to discover they had not been paid.

RBS has revealed it could take until Saturday for payments to reappear with the bank refusing to reveal whether everyone affected would be given cash to tide them over until then.

Instead the bank will deal with customers on a ‘case by case basis,’ a spokesman told MailOnline.

The error means hundreds of thousands of people who were due to be paid this morning awoke to find their wages had not been paid into their accounts.

Great not been paid thanks to this NatWest meltdown – can’t phone them as been left on hold for ages. So annoyed,’ said one customer while another asked: ‘What is the time scale to sort these missing payments out?’

‘I have a 12 month old baby in house. No money. No Gas or electric.. And your telling me what? It’s a “technical” glitch,’ complained Chad Roberts.

Mr Roberts was given emergency credit to pay his bills and told that his wages would appear in his account tomorrow.

‘My wages not in today company paid us only seems to be RBS and Nat West customers at work who not been paid can you help me find out,’ added Tex Molyneux.’

Others complained of being on hold for more than an hour as they tried to seek help while queues snaked out of some local branches.

Some customers were put into their overdrafts as a result of the fault and could not face charges of up to £6 a day.

Leon Dinsdale from Wythenshawe had been told to visit a branch to be given emergency funds but was told he could only receive £50.

‘This happened to me about four years ago as well. Last time I was waiting three days to get my wages out the bank.

‘I have to walk to a branch which is quite a distance from me and they’re going to allow me to take out £50 until the glitch is sorted.

‘They said that is the maximum they can give me,’ the 28-year-old added.

Earlier RBS said it was working towards relocating the funds but would not reveal what had caused the issue in the first place.

We are aware of an issue with our overnight process which has resulted in some of our customers not having credits or Direct Debits being applied to their accounts,’ a spokesman said.

‘We are working to get this resolved as quickly as possible and apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.

‘To any customers concerned about the implications of this issue we advise them to get in touch with our call centres or come into a branch where our staff will be ready to help.

‘We will ensure no customers are left out of pocket as a result of this issue.’

Industry experts have described the error as ‘completely inexcusable’.

‘It’s completely inexcusable that a bank of this size, stature, reputation and trust to so consistently let customers down,’ said Guy Anker, Managing Editor of MoneySavingExpert.com

‘We saw it in 2012 when they had to make a grovelling apology and embarked on an unprecedented refund process.

‘I’m not saying that this is the same all over again but it’s a chilling reminder for anyone affected now of what happened in 2012.

‘You’d think they would have learned their lesson after what happened then. It’s not a good sign, 600,000 payments is massive.’

It is the second time this year the group’s customers have been left without payment.

At the end of March customers complained of not having been paid overnight. A spokesman at the time said the problem was down to a technical fault.

RBS could not confirm whether today’s missing payments were the result of the same fault.

RBS boss
Chief Executive Ross McEwan took over the banking group in 2013, telling customers he wanted to make it a ‘great bank for customers’

 

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