A civil servant and her family have been left “homeless” due to ongoing issues affecting Barclays customers which have meant they cannot make payments.
Paola Mereu, 39, sold the house her and her husband and their two daughters, aged one and seven, lived in at Uxbridge and were meant to buy their new home in West Sussex on Friday.
However, a major IT glitch which has hit Barclays has seen customers unable to make payments or access their accounts, including Mrs Mereu.
In a statement, the bank has apologised to customers, saying they are facing “ongoing technical issues that are impacting our customers’ accounts”.
Mrs Mereu told the PA news agency: “We drove down to (West Sussex on Friday) and we had all our things in a moving van and were waiting outside and unfortunately, around one o’clock, my solicitor calls and says Barclays is having some issues and we are unable to complete the sale.
“So we sold our house – we had the money from that – but we were unable to complete the other part of the sale so we are essentially homeless.
“We waited until five o’clock, Barclays still didn’t fix it, so we literally have no house and it is still not fixed.”
The family are currently staying with Mrs Mereu’s mother in London and the moving van with all their belongings is on her driveway.
It took us so long to get this dream house and yesterday was meant to be the happiest day of our lives and instead we ended up homeless
She said she is currently in limbo about what to do next.
“I am not sure if we will incur extra costs from the people we are buying from because we did not fulfil our part of the contract as the money was meant to go though on Friday,” she added.
“It’s crazy, we are hoping the issues are resolved by Monday.
“It took us so long to get this dream house and yesterday was meant to be the happiest day of our lives and instead we ended up homeless.
“I feel like I am in a TV series episode.”
PA understands that Barclays is contacting vulnerable customers to offer help and support, with their calls to the bank’s phonelines being prioritised.
A spokesperson for Barclays said: “We’re incredibly sorry for the ongoing technical issues that are impacting our customers’ accounts.
“Some may see an outdated balance, and payments made or received may not show.
“We’re working hard to fix this issue, and customers should not try to make the payment again.
“Customers can use their cards and withdraw cash, and as soon as these remaining issues are resolved, we’ll let our customers know. We will ensure that no impacted customer is left out of pocket.”
