At the time of writing, 2.5 million TSB customers are unable to access their bank accounts. Those who have been able to access them have been met with wrong account balances, wage payments missing from accounts and direct debits bouncing. In addition, the bank’s own internal systems have also been affected, meaning that it has not been possible for customers to resolve the issues even by visiting a branch.
The problems were caused by a system upgrade, and similar upgrades across the financial sector have brought similar problems – most recently with Aviva.
TSB customers have started to take drastic action and have approached switching sites to move their accounts to rival establishments. Whether or not they will be successful is yet to be seen but it is safe to say that trust has been damaged, maybe irreparably.
As demand for increasingly high-tech IT grows, the pressure on providers to keep systems up-to-date grows with it. Therefore, regular updating and upgrading will become more frequent, which may mean potentially more problems in the future.
Hopefully, those customers affected will get compensation for their inconvenience, and the systems will be up and running soon with no money going “missing” in the process!
In another systems issue, this time relating to the Visa payments, a systems crash was responsible, leaving some people unable to buy things or complete transactions. Even shoppers not using Visa have been unable to make purchases, because the network provides payment systems for a range of shops and financial institutions.
Customers have reported arriving at tills to have their cards declined. Retailers say they have been left unable to take payments in shops, bars and other outlets, forcing them to resort to only taking cash or not making sales at all. Some major retailers even resorted to using the old manual credit card imprinting machines we remember from the 80’s to enable transactions to be completed. Visa have yet to provide any details on the cause of the failure.
The Redwood Team hope you have not been affected by these problems and if you are, that they are resolved quickly and efficiently!
