NatWest Bank customers have been left fuming after many had money taken from their accounts twice. Some said they had been left with nothing after the error which happened on Tuesday.
Others said it was going to cause them major issues if it was not rectified quickly with one posting on Twitter how they had £4,000 taken from their account when they were due to go on holiday within days. Others said the problem had left them without money yet nobody was able to say when it would be resolved.
The bank has sought to reassure people they won't be out of pocket. It added it was working to fix the problem, reports The Mirror.
NatWest has confirmed there is an issue in a statement on its app. It said: "Some customer accounts are showing debit card purchases twice, and in certain cases their available balance will be lower than it should, we're really sorry for any inconvenience."
The bank's Twitter page rapidly filled with comments and questions from annoyed customers. One wrote how they had been warned they could face charges. 7pudinis posted: "Just received a message from you saying that I have gone into my arranged overdraft and may incur charges for using my overdraft. Pay in cleared funds to minimise charges. Err, what in earth is going on please???"
SuddenVulcan said: "So I'm out of pocket near half the money in my account until you fix this and you cant even give an estimate. Wow." While Elinor Dixon questioned: "I've been blocked twice from making an online purchase and received an automated message from the fraud team as well where I confirmed it was myself making the purchase- what's going on?"
Luke Tucker was fare from happy at the bank's response posting: "Very poor. How an earth does that even happen of all people to trust you have to trust a bank with your money. Attitude is a shrug of the shoulder bizarre."
MD Macfarlane tweeted: "@Natwest_Help have taken £4,000 out of my bank account and I go on holiday in a couple of day. Great. Left me with a massive overdraft deficit that I didn't ask for." And Henry wrote: "Left with no money to feed my kids. Taken their child benefit with your glitch. This is against the law!"
NatWest has responded to customers to say that it is aware of the technical issues. In a reply to one person, the bank said: "Please don't worry as charges caused by the duplicated payments won't be applied."
A spokesperson from NatWest said: “We are aware that some NatWest customers’ accounts are showing some Visa debit card purchases twice, and in certain cases their available balance will be lower than it should. We are working to fix the problem, and will ensure that no customer is left out of pocket.
“Our customers can be assured that payments to retailers/merchants have only been made once, so there is no need to contact them. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”
Are you entitled to money back?
You aren't automatically entitled to any compensation when there is a payment glitch at your bank - it instead depends on how badly the issue has affected you. For example, if it made you miss a bill or some sort of payment, or you occurred fees as a result.
It also depends on how long the problem lasts for and how quickly the bank worked to resolve it. If you're considering making a complaint, you should gather evidence about how the service issue affected you and for how long.
If you're in desperate need of access to your money but your online services are down, you can go to your local bank branch to withdraw your funds as normal. If you don’t have a local bank branch nearby or you're unable to get there, try and call your bank or contact it on social media to ask what to do.
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