THOUSANDS of HSBC customers experienced problems with its banking app earlier today.
More than 4,000 people logged reports on outage monitor DownDetector.
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Some customers reported being unable to see their bank balances.
Others said they were unable to make payments or access their accounts.
One customer wrote on X: “Please help me. Urgent payment that needs to be made – when can i expect the app to be working again?”
Another wrote: “What’s up with the @HSBC_UK mobile business app?. None of us can access our account.”
A third said: “@HSBC_UK Your mobile app and online services are down, and online payments I make are being declined. What’s going on?”
A different person complained: “What’s going on with my mobile banking right now I was expecting money in I’m going on holiday and the app is having issues.”
An HSBC spokesperson said initially: “We understand some customers are having issues accessing banking services right now.
“We’re really sorry and are investigating as a matter of urgency.
“We will share an update as soon as possible.”
In a later update after 4pm, they said: “Mobile and online banking services are back up and running following an earlier issue.
“We apologise to our customers who were impacted, and we’ll continue to monitor systems closely.”
One customer said: “Mine is working again. Just frantically paid all my bills for the month in case it goes down again…”
Another added: “Mine’s back. Give us a tenner for the trouble.”
First Direct, which is owned by HSBC, also appeared to be having issues.
Just under 300 reports were made on Downdetector.
Customers said they could see their balances but were receiving an error message when they tried to click into their accounts.
It appears the HSBC issue started just before 11am today.
Reports on Downdetector then peaked at about 11.30am.
The majority of people reported problems with their mobile banking, but others said they were having issues with online banking too.
The Sun understands the issue was caused by a third-party fibre optic line being cut.
A similar outage was reported by HSBC customers back in February.
About 1,700 people flagged problems with their online and mobile banking, with dozens complaining they couldn’t get into their accounts.
What to do if you can’t access your money
If you can’t access your money and you need to urgently, here’s what to do:
- Visit your local branch as soon as you can.
- If you can’t get there, or it is closed, call your bank and ask for its guidance on what to do.
- If the bank’s phone services are also down or busy, try contacting your bank on social media to ask what to do. But remember: don’t ever share your account details over social media.
- Try to do this on the day the problem arises so you can show you made every attempt to solve the issue.
- If you still can’t access your money, begin gathering evidence for a complaint.
Can I claim compensation for an outage?
Banks don’t have to pay out compensation to customers if there’s been an outage or if they’ve experienced technical issues.
But you might be entitled to some money back depending on how much the disruption affected you as a consumer.
To make a claim, you have to present evidence of how the outage negatively affected you – including any extra costs incurred.
This might be because you were charged for making a late payment, for example.
You should make a note of when you were unable to access the services and also the names of the people you spoke to at the company.
You can find out more details about how to complain to HSBC on its website.
If it doesn’t resolve your complaint, you can take your case up with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
This is an independent body which will resolve any issues based on what it thinks is “fair and reasonable” depending on the circumstances of the case.
The service can resolve your issue over the phone, by email or post depending on what best suits you.
In the case of an IT system outage at a bank, the FOS says any compensation you may receive will be dependent on your circumstances and whether you lost any money as a result.
If it finds the bank was at fault, you may see any fees, charges or fines reimbursed.
