MSE News: Halifax & Lloyds customers can't get cash on New Years Eve

worried_jim

This sounds like a total non-story/event.

System

This issue caused problems for Lloyds, Bank of Scotland and Halifax customers. The same thing with RBS issue - it affected RBS, Ulster and NatWest.

Having so many few large banking groups causes problems like this. If they had been split off then this would have been less of a problem.

The moral of the story is to keep an account with funds with another bank/building society that has no connection with your main account.

pmduk

Heng_Leng wrote: »

This issue caused problems for Lloyds, Bank of Scotland and Halifax customers. The same thing with RBS issue - it affected RBS, Ulster and NatWest.

Having so many few large banking groups causes problems like this. If they had been split off then this would have been less of a problem.

The moral of the story is to keep an account with funds with another bank/building society that has no connection with your main account.

This doesn't solve the problem, when it's the ATMs themselves that are out of action.

rb10

pmduk wrote: »

This doesn't solve the problem, when it's the ATMs themselves that are out of action.

This problem was with the Lloyds servers, and not specifically with ATMs. Had Lloyds and Halifax still been separate, then the impact wouldn't have been as large, as only one brand's customers would have been affected.

worried_jim wrote: »

This sounds like a total non-story/event.

Agree completely.

opinions4u

I can't believe some of the hysterical over-reactions I've seen elsewhere for an hour of down time - after closing time on the evening before a bank holiday.

While LBG doesn't cover itself in glory here a mixture of contingency, common sense and patience will see any sane human being survive such terrible happening in future.

Right, I'm off to do something charitable for people in real need. It will make a tiny dent in a far bigger problem. But it's much more important than 24 hour banking only lasting for 23 hours and affecting booze buying time.

Wywth

stclair wrote: »

What time did this start? I used my Lloyds debit card about five ish.

I don't know, but I used my card about 2.15pm and got cash, no problem then.

I also had a faster payments made into the account about 9.00am, which arrived almost instantaneously.

amaire44 sent the tweet at 11.04am

Edit: at 12.58pm Lloydstsb tweeted to say "normal service has been resumed across all our services"

... this thread was started nearly 5 hours later :cool:

pinkdalek

pmduk wrote: »

I had problems withdrawing cash on Sunday, 8 machines were out of order or empty, before finding one that worked, 4 of them were Lloyds TSB/Halifax. Surely banks should have better arrangements to refill machines on one of the busiest weekends of the year?

I am sure they do, the majority of banks would have filled their machines on the Friday/Saturday. They would be open again on the Monday. The problem a bank cannot account for is a failure in one of its machines or one of its competitors machines.

Bank A has a fully stocked ATM, Bank B's ATM develops a fault, so everyone uses Bank A's ATM hence why it runs out of cash. If an ATM is not dispensing cash the likelihood is the machine has got money jammed in its mechanisms, there is a fault with the card reader or some idiot has vandalised it and not because it has run out of money.

It isn't just a case of someone with a set of keys either just to pop down and try to fix it either.

milesmalleson

I attempted to buy an annual rail season ticket just after 5pm on NYE but payment was declined at the counter (annual season tickets have to be bought at the counter by card or cash). It is my biggest expenditure of the year.

As my card had a little crack in it, I wondered if it was faulty (I had enough funds). I called the telephone number on the card to find out why the payment failed and got passed the automated part but could not get through to anyone. There had been no automated message alerting callers to the problem that had arisen (if they did have such a set up, callers like me would not need to speak to an advisor to understand why their cards were being declined and it would have enabled customers with individual problems to get through) and so I believed that my card may have been faulty.

I had to buy the season ticket that day (pay day) or the next day to avoid the rise in price that takes effect on Jan 2nd. To mitigate this, I decided to transfer £2,500 to my friends account and have him pay for it on his card (which the station had stated I would be able to do). I did that when I got home after 6pm. I then managed to get through to the bank to order a replacement card. I am then advised of the problem and am informed that it is probably working still but suggested ordering a new card as it was on its way out and would still be valid for 30 days. As the security number was also fading, I agreed.

I go to the bank immediately and test my card. It works and I draw out some cash. I ask my friend if they have internet banking (the payment went in to their account in less than two hours) and, if they have, to make the payment back. The next day (Jan 1st) they tell me they have made a payment back but did it by telephone banking and had been told it would not clear until the next day.. It shows up with a Jan 2nd date online. As I believed that this has to do with the transfer being made on the telephone, I transfer some cash I have in another Lloyds account that, with my wages, would enable me to meet the payment.

The transfer from one of my won Lloyds Saving account to another of my Lloyds cash account also shows as a payment that would take place on Jan 2nd. Should it take a day with Internet Banking when transferring your money with the same bank from one of your accounts to another of your accounts?

The balance of available funds does show online that i have access to that money so I go to buy the ticket again. It fails and a message appears instructing me to give the card to the cashier (the chip and pin was on my side of the counter). Why would it instruct me to give the card to the cashier?

I tried the card in a cash machine and it gave me my balance but my request for the £10 I had asked for was declined by my bank. I called my bank and they tell me that the funds I had put in that day had been held because of suspicion of fraudulently activity. I explained that the transfers of cash were made to ensure that I could pay for my season ticket to avoid the rise in price of £80 and this is accepted and I am told my funds were now released. I tried to make payment again and the same message came up and payment was declined. I try the cash machine and still get to read my balance but am refused £10.

I call the bank up and this time they tell me that my card is faulty. I ask how it is that I am able to read my bank balance and no suitable explanation is offered. They insist that my card is faulty. If a card is faulty, would it allow me to get a statement but not draw out cash?

I call again later to ask why I am unable to use my card. I am told that the card has been reported as faulty and has been cancelled and that is the cause. I point out that I was advised that it should work for another 30 days but they suggest this may have been stopped in error. I ask to speak to their fraud department but they insist the card is faulty. it is not explained why the fault that is preventing me from making payments is not preventing me from seeing my account balance. I pointed out to them that, as the card failed to allow me to purchase my season ticket when my card was in working order (it worked a few hours later), I have now incurred an additional cost of £80 but they have offered t6o pay that if I can show an attempt was made to buy the ticket. I cannot easily do that because there is no record of the attempt on their system as it did not get to the PIN stage at the counter..I can demonstrate the price difference and that my other ticket had expired.

The only way I can access the money i need is to go in to the bank and draw it out in cash but the bank does not open until 10am so I will be very late for work unless I buy a single ticket and get the ticket to get to the location of my workplace and get the cash out out from there and buy the ticket in my lunchtime. If I buy this single ticket (price less than £18, should I be able to claim it back off the bank?

I am having a hard time believing that, after reporting a card as faulty by mistake when it is working, it then becomes faulty the next day. I cannot help but think it has more to do with action the bank took in response to my request and recent transactions. What do you think?

Basil1234

miles after getting over you novel of woes basically the minute you ask for a new card most banks 99% of them automatically stop the old card as it becomes a security risk to them.
this all done by computer systems and can only be released by the anti fraud team i'm with halifax and it happened to me making a payment overseas once they realized it was me they authorized and released the card back to normal.
long and the short of it you going to have to wait and argue with them and they will have a record in there system of card attempts whether authorized or not.

opinions4u

Oh for the long lost art of precis.