The banking giant Lloyds has apologised to its customers over an IT failure that has resulted in customers being unable to access their online bank accounts.
Hundreds of people have reported their difficulties making payments and transferring cash online to Downdetector, an outage tracking website.
The IT glitch, which is ongoing, has resulted in customers venting their fury on social media and inundating the bank with complaints.
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Lloyds initially failed to take responsibility, telling its online banking users (via social media) that it was not aware of any issues. The bank suggested the problem lay instead with customers’ internet providers.
The firm later admitted there was a fault with the system, which users can circumvent by accessing their online banking through a 3G or 4G network connection, Metro reports.
A spokeswoman for the bank said: “We are currently aware that some customers may be experiencing intermittent issues when trying to access their online banking service this morning.”
She added: “We are working to resolve the issue as a matter of urgency and we are sorry for any inconvenience for our customers.”
The number of customers affected has yet to be revealed, the Daily Mail says, but the problem is not thought to have affected other banks within the group. Systems used by Halifax and Bank of Scotland (both of which fall under the Lloyds Banking Group) are currently operating as normal.
What happened?
Lloyds scheduled a maintenance period “between midnight and 6am on Sunday” to carry out upgrades to its online banking service, The Guardian says.
It’s widely believed that a glitch happened during this process, resulting in users being unable to log into their bank accounts while their device was connected to a wifi signal.
Lloyds has yet to confirm whether the upgrade is to blame for the outage, the newspaper says.
What can customers do?
Although the issue has not yet been rectified, there are a number of ways Lloyds customers can access their accounts.
According to the Mirror, smartphone users can still log onto the firm’s online banking app by using the mobile network connection on their device. This cannot, however, be done on a laptop or desktop computer.
Another option is to log on using the company’s business page, which can be found here.
There’s also a chance the issue will be resolved quickly, so customers may simply want to try again later, the newspaper concludes.
