Nationwide account "glitch" with random stranger

rwgs

So long story short, Nationwide's online banking "outage" last week appears to have caused my account to have been merged with someone completely random. Whether it was just a coincidence it happened then or another technical problem, or was perhaps human error I still don't know.

The first I knew of it was when the outage had been resolved and I still couldn't login to internet banking. I called up and couldn't pass security as they were unable to verify my details. They couldn't tell me why and it wasn't until I went into branch to show proof of ID, that I then found out what the problem was. My account was merged into a complete stranger's account (who I now know the full name of) for some unknown reason. All my accounts are ok, and the accounts have been locked to prevent internet access, and my cards all still work, but it is frustrating not having access to something I use regularly.

So far, they are being next to useless and apparently have 56 days to resolve, but I am not willing to wait that long. I am chasing them constantly for answers as to what happened, but am still waiting. I have been without access to the account for well over a week now.

Any advise here - has this ever happened to anybody else? What are my options for escalation/compensation etc?

Browntoa

Compensation for what ?

You have not suffered a financial loss

Banking regulations give them 56 days to resolve complaints so very little you can do

Flobberchops

Browntoa wrote: »

Compensation for what?

The inconvenience of being locked out of internet banking, having his accounts frozen, and having to make a trip to branch to discover this, plus forseeable inconvenience in the near future if Nationwide takes the maximum 56 days to resolve the issue. Presumably.

rwgs

As above, and there is also the massive security implication. Fraud happens this way. In this case I caught it early, but if I hadn't then the 3rd party would or even may have had access to all of my accounts and details. Having to go branch to resolve was a pain as well.

If I had been out of the country, and lost access to my accounts with no way to prove identity, it would be even worse. Would they have paid for a plane ticket home just so I could get access to my money again?

I know this is all theoretical, but in this case I got off lightly, and of course what's to stop it from happening again, to anyone for that matter?

MrJones1

What you describe is really terrifying. The 3rd party could have had access to your account and details. There's not much of help that you have got from the bank. In accordance to the banking regulations, which has been pointed out by @Browntoa, they have up to 56 days to resolve complaints. A long time indeed. If you don't feel that their system is secure, because how could a "glitch" like this happen, you should switch bank.

Browntoa

I've used nationwide online banking for many years without issue

I'm assuming they had some sort of system failure the other day when they went off air causing a data corruption for your account (not seen any other reports)

Your account is locked so nobody can access it , as long as your scheduled payments go out on time , your balance was not affected and you can still access money via ATM or card payment then you MAY get a small goodwill payment .

Chino

Browntoa wrote: »

I've used nationwide online banking for many years without issue

How is this relevant to the OP's problem?

Browntoa wrote: »

I'm assuming they had some sort of system failure the other day when they went off air causing a data corruption for your account

You think?

societys_child

rwgs wrote: »

If I had been out of the country, and lost access to my accounts with no way to prove identity, it would be even worse. Would they have paid for a plane ticket home just so I could get access to my money again?

But you weren't out of the country so nothing like that happened. You can't claim compensation for something that didn't happen.

I know this is all theoretical, but in this case I got off lightly, and of course what's to stop it from happening again, to anyone for that matter?

Theoretical indeed.