Lloyds Banking Group has issued an apology after thousands of customers encountered difficulties accessing their accounts through the bank's app and online banking services. The technical disruption, which also affected Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers, comes just months after a similar IT glitch impacted nearly half a million people.
Technical Issues Widespread
Service monitoring website Downdetector recorded a significant spike in problem reports on Wednesday afternoon, with thousands of users logging issues. Affected customers reported being unable to launch the app or access online banking, preventing them from making digital payments, including bill payments and transfers between accounts.
The banking group acknowledged the problem via posts on X from Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, stating: "We're aware some customers are having issues with our app and online banking. We're really sorry about this. We're working hard to fix it and will let you know as soon as we're back to normal."
Customer Frustrations
Customers took to social media to express their frustrations. One user warned of potential "loss of business" if they could not pay suppliers, while another noted that their business needed to pay an urgent invoice. The outage has raised concerns about the reliability of digital banking services.
Previous IT Glitch
This incident follows a previous IT failure on March 12, when approximately 447,000 Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland customers saw other people's transactions or had their data shared with others. The banking group attributed that issue to a "software defect" from an overnight IT update. Lloyds has since paid out more than £200,000 to 5,250 affected customers as compensation.
Lloyds Banking Group has not yet provided an estimated time for the restoration of services but assured customers that efforts are ongoing to resolve the problem.
