Lloyds and Halifax down as thousands of customers locked out of online banking

LLOYDS and Halifax have gone down with thousands of customers locked out of mobile and online banking.

Both banks are suffering an outage with over 2,000 customers experiencing issues, according to Downdetector.

Exterior of a Halifax call centre, temporarily closed due to coronavirus.
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Lloyds and Halifax have gone down for thousands of customersCredit: Pacemaker

Around 60% of Halifax customer complaints relate to problems with mobile banking and 30% with online banking.

Meanwhile, around 67% of Lloyds Bank complaints relate to customers having issues with online banking and 32% with logging in via mobiles.

The vast majority of customers reporting issues are based in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham.

The Sun has approached Lloyds Banking Group, which operates both Lloyds Bank and Halifax, for comment.

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Fuming customers have posted on X, formerly Twitter, raging at the outage.

One said: "Lloyds Bank app down again?"

Another Lloyds customer said: "The app doesn't work. It keeps logging me out and is saying technical difficulties."

A third added: "Same here, just keeps returning me to green screen."

It comes after Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct and Nationwide were all hit with a major outage in February.

Thousands of customers reported issues with the four banks at its peak.

Barclays was hit by an outage weeks before, leaving some customers locked out of accounts for days.

The bank said the outage was caused by a technical issue and not related to a cyber attack or any malicious activity.

Banks don't have to pay out compensation to customers if there's been an outage or if they've experienced technical issues.

Can I claim compensation for an outage?

Banks don't have to pay out compensation to customers if there's been an outage or if they've experienced technical issues.

But you might be entitled to some money back depending on how much the disruption affected you as a consumer.

To make a claim, you have to present evidence of how the outage negatively affected you, including any extra costs incurred.

This might be because you were charged for making a late payment for example.

You should make a note of when you were unable to access the services and also the names of the people you spoke to at the company who suffered the outage.

You can usually find out more details about how to complain to your bank on its website.

If your bank doesn't resolve your complaint, you can take your case up with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

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How can I check if my bank is down?

THERE are a few different ways to find out if your bank is experiencing an outage.

Senior consumer reporter Olivia Marshall explains how you can check.

If you are trying to send money to someone, or you just want to check if you have enough cash for a coffee, finding that your online banking is down can be a real pain.

Most banks have a dedicated news page on their website to show service problems, including internet banking, mobile apps, ATMs, debit cards and credit cards.

You can also check on any future work they have planned and what it might mean for you.

Plus, you can check websites such as Down Detector, which will tell you whether other people are experiencing problems with a particular company online.

It is an independent body which will resolve any issues based on what it thinks is "fair and reasonable" depending on the circumstances of the case.

The service can resolve your issue over the phone, by email or post depending on what best suits you.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

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