Nationwide payment issue means MILLIONS face ‘no cash for Christmas’ as £1,000s of transactions stuck pending
A NATIONWIDE payment issue means millions of Brits could face having no cash for Christmas.
Thousands of pounds worth of transactions are said to be stuck pending after a tech issue with the major bank.
Nationwide said on Thursday it did not know how long it would take held-up cash to hit bank accounts.
Brits are now panicking they could end up having no money for Christmas, with many saying their wages are set to hit their bank accounts in coming hours.
But, the bank said it couldn't guarantee they would be there.
One customer quizzed Nationwide: "My payday is due tomorrow which is a Friday, if payments are delayed I assume I will have no funds until after Boxing Day?"
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The bank wrote back and said it does "not have an estimated timescale";.
It added: "Payments have been placed in a queue and will arrive as soon as possible."
One person said: "People can’t access their money three days before Christmas? They’re not even apologising for the problem."
Nationwide said: "There’s a delay affecting some incoming and outgoing Faster Payments following a fault earlier this evening.
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"Payments are now flowing again and all queued payments will be processed shortly."
Another customer panicked: "My wages usually go in at midnight.
"Will this still go ahead if payments are delayed?"
When people asked if they would see the money, the bank simply said: "We will be processing these payments for you, with the aim to fund accounts within the next few hours if queued."
A Nationwide spokesperson said on Friday morning: “Due to a technical issue, inbound and outbound faster payments were temporarily delayed for a short period of time yesterday evening.
"No other services were impacted and customers could still use their cards to make payments in store and online.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Can you claim compensation for delays?
Unlike telecoms companies, banks do not have a fixed compensation scheme for service disruption.
Depending on it has affected you, you may be able to get some money back.
It is worth gathering evidence of your problems so you can make a formal complaint to the bank if necessary.
Try to make a note of when the issues affected you, plus any costs you incurred as a result.
If your credit rating has been affected by a service outage, because you got a late payment fee after being unable to make a transaction, for example, you should also keep a record of this.
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If you spoke to anyone to try and resolve the problem, make a note of their name and when you spoke to them, as well as roughly what you discussed and what they advised you to do.
You can find out how to make a complaint to Nationwide on its website.