Major banks hit by online issues
Some UK customers are suffering online banking problems today.
Nationwide, First Direct, Lloyds and Halifax have all confirmed issues with their online banking systems, and say they’re working to fix them.
Nationwide said in a message on its website that “some incoming and outgoing payments are delayed at the moment”, but that “everything else is working normally”.
It said direct debits and standing orders were working as normal, but that payments were in a queue and would arrive soon, adding that customers did not need to do anything.
Meanwhile, First Direct confirmed on its website that both its mobile and online banking were “experiencing issues with payments”.
There’s also been a rise in problems reported by Lloyds customers, and at its Halifax operation, according to the Downdetector website.
Posting on X, Lloyds says:
We know some of our customers are having issues logging on to internet banking and our app. We’re sorry for this, and we’re working to have everything back to normal.
We know some of our customers are having issues logging on to internet banking and our app. We’re sorry for this and we’re working to have everything back to normal.
— Lloyds (@LloydsBank) February 28, 2025
Key events
Today’s widespread online banking problems are likely to concern MPs.
Parliament’s Treasury Committee is already asking banks to report how many IT outages they have suffered over the last two years, the causes, how many customers were affected, and what – if any – compensation has been paid out.
Halifax have clarified that their technical problem is affecting its customers’ ability to log into its app, or online bank account.
Hi there. The issue we’ve had affected our customers’ ability to log in. It hasn’t stopped card payments, so you shouldn’t have any issues beyond normal decline reasons. If you call us or login and select the “Message us 24/7” option on the support menu we can take a look. ^PaulG
— Halifax (@HalifaxBank) February 28, 2025
In other banking news, the UK government has trimmed its shareholding in NatWest to below 6%.
The government now owns 5.93% of NatWest, down from 6.98% previously – and 84.9% back in the financial crisis when the bank, then called Royal Bank of Scotland, was bailed out.
The taxpayers’ stake has been steadily eroded through a drip-feed of shares to the stock market through a “trading plan”, rather than the “Tell Sid”-style privatisation planned by the previous government.
Outages: What the banks say
Mabel Banfield-Nwachi
Nationwide are also advising customers there is no need to resend payments which are delayed by today’s technical problems.
A Nationwide spokesperson says:
“We’ve identified an issue that was causing a delay to some incoming and outgoing payments. We’re now processing the queued payments, although we ask customers to bear with us as we complete their transactions. There is no need for people to resend payments. We apologise for an inconvenience caused.
First Direct have confirmed their services are now “currently operating as normal”, after this morning’s technical issue.
TSB say they are “working hard” to get their services back too.
“We’re aware of industry-wide issues this morning, and that some of our customers are unable to log into our mobile app, and internet banking. We apologise for this and are working hard to resolve it.”
A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson has said:
“We know some customers are having issues with internet banking and our apps. We’re sorry about this and we’re working to have it back to normal soon.”
Nationwide says that the incoming and outgoing payments which have been delayed today are “in a queue and will arrive ASAP”.
First Direct: customers can now make payments as normal
First Direct say the problems which hit its service this morning have been fixed.
In a Service Update, it reports:
Customers can now make payments as normal via mobile and online banking following an earlier issue. Our teams continue to monitor. Very sorry to anyone who has been inconvenienced this Friday morning.
It’s status page suggests services are working normally:
Bank of Scotland also affected
There are also problems at Bank of Scotland (which is part of Lloyds Banking Group).
BoS have released the same message as Lloyds and Halifax:
We know some of our customers are having issues logging on to online banking and our app. We’re sorry for this and we’re working to have everything back to normal.
— Bank of Scotland Business (@BankofScotBiz) February 28, 2025
Problems at TSB too
TSB bank is also suffering technical problems with online and mobile banking today.
Posting on X, it says:
We are aware that some of our customers are having issues logging on to our mobile app, and internet banking. We apologise for this and are working hard to resolve it – and will share an update as soon as possible.
We are aware that some of our customers are having issues logging on to our mobile app, and internet banking. We apologise for this and are working hard to resolve it – and will share an update as soon as possible.
— TSB (@TSB) February 28, 2025
TSB’s status page reports “Intermittent” problems with both internet and mobile banking.
Nationwide’s service status page warns customers that “Some incoming and outgoing payments are delayed at the moment”.
Nationwide adds:
Here’s what you might need to know:
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Some payments to and from your account are delayed at the moment
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If you’ve sent money already or are waiting for money to arrive you don’t need to do anything, it’s in a queue and will arrive ASAP
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You can still send money, but this won’t go through straight away
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Direct Debits and standing orders are working normally
You can continue to:
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move money between accounts
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use your cards online and in shops
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log-in to our Internet Bank and Banking app
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withdraw money at cash machines.
Halifax customers on X are reporting that today’s online banking problems are preventing them making important payments, and accessing their pay:
@HalifaxBank I need help with my app. I can’t pay my rent because the paytransfer section is only saying I can pay FROM my savings account TO my current account…
— Tara J (@munroney) February 28, 2025
@HalifaxBank it’s 2025, online banking shouldn’t be so difficult! I’ve got bills to pay today and the apps not letting me log in 😭
— Wanda (@3LinesOfCoco) February 28, 2025
Hi there, Wanda and thanks for reaching out.
We know some of our customers are having issues logging on to internet banking and our app. We’re sorry for this and we’re working to have everything back to normal. ^PaulG
— Halifax (@HalifaxBank) February 28, 2025
