NatWest and its hapless customers are having to endure a third day of technical problems with its online banking services. The problems are also affecting RBS and Ulster Bank.
The BBC reports that approximately 1,000 NatWest branches opened early today to help customers who are still unable to access their accounts because of technical problems.
NatWest said:
"Unfortunately we are once again experiencing technical issues with our systems and account balances have not updated properly overnight.
This means where money has gone into a customer's account, there may be a delay in it appearing on their balance.We can assure our customers that this problem is strictly of a technical nature and we continue to work hard to resolve this."
The Financial Ombudsman has advised what customers' rights are:
- Anyone out of pocket owing to a technical or systems failure has certain rights
- Banks should put customers back into the position they were in had the problem not occurred
- That does not mean extra compensation is a right
- Anyone affected should let the bank know about their situation as soon as possible
- Customers should check to see if any payments due from an account have bounced
- They should also keep a record of how the problem has affected them - just in case a formal complaint is required later
