RBS systems crash affected up to 17.5 million customers

Millions of customers who were not able to access their accounts claim they were left hungry, stranded, and embarrassed

17:01 07 March 2013

Millions of customers at RBS, NatWest, and Ulster Bank experienced problems on
Wednesday, 5th March, when they were not able to access their accounts. They also had difficulty with online and phone banking and cash withdrawals.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) group said that it was because of hardware issue but declined to give more information. The company offered compensation to those who were affected. Millions of customers claimed that they were left stranded, hungry, and/or embarrassed because they were not able to access their accounts and pay for their dinner, for example.

The crash came just months after RBS experienced a meltdown that kept millions of customers from withdrawing cash.

RBS and its subsidiaries NatWest and the Bank of Ulster quickly issued apologies via Twitter after customers complained about the problem.

One customer tweeted – as quoted by The Telegraph – that the bank had caused a problem for them.

 

They tweeted: “Natwest, you left me with no dinner tonight, and left me walking home in the rain! I'd like some compensation please!

In a statement, the group said: “We are aware of the problems our customers are having and apologise, we will provide more information as soon as we have it.”