Problem is @Clem_Snide it could happen at any bank in reality. So you could leave Barclays for Natwest who have a similar problem in 6 months time.
An awful high percentage of people have one bank account and in reality are only able to fund, month to month, one account. So the option of having a spare loaded with some cash is dream world for many. Credit card may be the same, some simply won't be able to get one.
You need to be careful with the modern day online banks and who they use for clearing. Think both Monzo and Starling use NatWest so would have issues had it of been Natwest.
Some of Barclays responses on X etc are a joke, I left them many moons ago when I was transferred from The Woolwich and they royally messed everything up. Seems like their customer service hasn't improved
On the multiple bank account thing. 50% of people are below average intelligence. Many people struggle to manage their finances with one account. Most of the people who contribute to this forum are fairly bright, and I bet many of them wouldn't dream of having six or seven accounts.
I am not knocking it, Canters, it's brilliant that you play them at their own game and make some cash for yourselves, but not everyone has your ability, so you shouldn't be surprised that not everyone does what you do, mate.
Yeah fair point. Hadn't considered that.
To be clear. I have 4 accounts one for travel insurance which hasn't been touched since we opened it, one for international transactions which I'll top up a couple times a year max when needing to make a specific international transaction. One that my main income goes into and another that I got to get access to a better savings rate which I now use for irregular side hustle income. So only 2 that take any management. I also have a couple of different credit cards for points/cashback opportunities. So 7 different ways of paying for things through different banking groups but still minimal effort (at least it seems to me).
You should bank with HSBC Premier - free travel insurance, free global money account (might still need something for savings). Their Elite credit card is good for airport lounges and reward points (think you still get 40k on opening if you spend a certain amount, used to get another 40,000 on anniversary).
I'm to a degree similar to you, whilst I have all the above with HSBC for convenience and do all day to day banking with them, I do still have access to two other banks from a current account perspective (3 if you include First Direct) as well as other credit cards and savings elsewhere.
Premier and elite sound like they carry fee's? I don't currently pay any!
The current account has no fees, nor does the global money account (but you need the premier current account I think to have it).
Credit card does have an annual fee, yes. Although with the welcome bonus and what I spend it was well worthwhile, last year flights to Cyprus and Lanzarote were all but free, plus I had around £300 Amazon vouchers.
Just paid £20 each for flights to Cyprus in April and Lanzarote were again free (apart from about £40 in taxes etc).
It does all depend on how much you spend of course,
You don’t need Premier for Global Money account, mate. I am on Advantage and I have it, and love it, as you might expect. It has marginally worse overall costs than Wise, but I find the convenience far outweighs the extra cost. I can transfer money from my HSBC current account to my Czech bank, in CZ crowns, and it is there next day, all I have paid is the slightly below mid-price FX rate. Compared to a few years ago, this is dreamland if you have moved abroad for any reason.
Whats more HSBC is currently the only big bank that is relaxed about letting you keep your current account if you move to the EU. I only discovered that this week, and was smiling the whole day. Makes a whole load of things a lot easier for me. The worst one, aggressively closing the accounts of traitors after Brexit day, was … Barclays. 😉
I’ve been with HSBC for over 30 years. In that time I’ve often had one or two other UK accounts alongside them. Last year because of the interest rate game, I had accounts with 3 UK and 4 Czech retail bank accounts. Back down to just HSBC in the UK now (and 2 CZ). There are days when I find them infuriating of course, their app is definitely below average, but overall I am happy with them.
But it’s true it could happen to any big bank, commiserations to all of you caught up in this.
The hassle the big banks cause there customers for no good reason, other then shitty tech is wonderful
It is hellishly complex to migrate to new platforms from the legacy ones when there are so many customers and accounts involved. It is far from simple or cheap. It’s also complicated by the various mergers and acquisitions over the years which bring different systems under one roof.
Most banks have / are redressing bit by bit but it takes time.
We all forget too we enjoy free banking on most accounts in the main.
My heart doesn’t bleed for the banks who massively subsidise cross product from say mortgages, they can swallow free retail banking with the money made elsewhere.
its a strategic choice not to invest in your core banking infrastructure
My point is they do invest but it’s a massive undertaking and high risk to resolve all legacy technology issues. And much harder for the older / long established brands.
Most of the time things work but ‘Money’ is so emotive when it goes wrong it’s much much worse.
They invest in knackered out green screen tech, bilecause the choice has been not to improve their tech for a range of reasons, and they are stuck as their new competitors are building up the numbers at a rate of knots
I hope the same never happens at coutts who I bank with.
Well, it's a part of Nat West of course, so anything is possible. But is separately authorised which is good (unlike Halifax which is merely a trading name.)
As for Barclays, well, you just have to look at their FCA fines history to know what a useless shambles they are. (I'm sure another one will be on its way now for inadequate systems and controls.) Here are the highlights:
Problem is @Clem_Snide it could happen at any bank in reality. So you could leave Barclays for Natwest who have a similar problem in 6 months time.
An awful high percentage of people have one bank account and in reality are only able to fund, month to month, one account. So the option of having a spare loaded with some cash is dream world for many. Credit card may be the same, some simply won't be able to get one.
You need to be careful with the modern day online banks and who they use for clearing. Think both Monzo and Starling use NatWest so would have issues had it of been Natwest.
Some of Barclays responses on X etc are a joke, I left them many moons ago when I was transferred from The Woolwich and they royally messed everything up. Seems like their customer service hasn't improved
On the multiple bank account thing. 50% of people are below average intelligence. Many people struggle to manage their finances with one account. Most of the people who contribute to this forum are fairly bright, and I bet many of them wouldn't dream of having six or seven accounts.
I am not knocking it, Canters, it's brilliant that you play them at their own game and make some cash for yourselves, but not everyone has your ability, so you shouldn't be surprised that not everyone does what you do, mate.
Yeah fair point. Hadn't considered that.
To be clear. I have 4 accounts one for travel insurance which hasn't been touched since we opened it, one for international transactions which I'll top up a couple times a year max when needing to make a specific international transaction. One that my main income goes into and another that I got to get access to a better savings rate which I now use for irregular side hustle income. So only 2 that take any management. I also have a couple of different credit cards for points/cashback opportunities. So 7 different ways of paying for things through different banking groups but still minimal effort (at least it seems to me).
You should bank with HSBC Premier - free travel insurance, free global money account (might still need something for savings). Their Elite credit card is good for airport lounges and reward points (think you still get 40k on opening if you spend a certain amount, used to get another 40,000 on anniversary).
I'm to a degree similar to you, whilst I have all the above with HSBC for convenience and do all day to day banking with them, I do still have access to two other banks from a current account perspective (3 if you include First Direct) as well as other credit cards and savings elsewhere.
Premier and elite sound like they carry fee's? I don't currently pay any!
The current account has no fees, nor does the global money account (but you need the premier current account I think to have it).
Credit card does have an annual fee, yes. Although with the welcome bonus and what I spend it was well worthwhile, last year flights to Cyprus and Lanzarote were all but free, plus I had around £300 Amazon vouchers.
Just paid £20 each for flights to Cyprus in April and Lanzarote were again free (apart from about £40 in taxes etc).
It does all depend on how much you spend of course,
You don’t need Premier for Global Money account, mate. I am on Advantage and I have it, and love it, as you might expect. It has marginally worse overall costs than Wise, but I find the convenience far outweighs the extra cost. I can transfer money from my HSBC current account to my Czech bank, in CZ crowns, and it is there next day, all I have paid is the slightly below mid-price FX rate. Compared to a few years ago, this is dreamland if you have moved abroad for any reason.
Whats more HSBC is currently the only big bank that is relaxed about letting you keep your current account if you move to the EU. I only discovered that this week, and was smiling the whole day. Makes a whole load of things a lot easier for me. The worst one, aggressively closing the accounts of traitors after Brexit day, was … Barclays. 😉
I’ve been with HSBC for over 30 years. In that time I’ve often had one or two other UK accounts alongside them. Last year because of the interest rate game, I had accounts with 3 UK and 4 Czech retail bank accounts. Back down to just HSBC in the UK now (and 2 CZ). There are days when I find them infuriating of course, their app is definitely below average, but overall I am happy with them.
But it’s true it could happen to any big bank, commiserations to all of you caught up in this.
The hassle the big banks cause there customers for no good reason, other then shitty tech is wonderful
It is hellishly complex to migrate to new platforms from the legacy ones when there are so many customers and accounts involved. It is far from simple or cheap. It’s also complicated by the various mergers and acquisitions over the years which bring different systems under one roof.
Most banks have / are redressing bit by bit but it takes time.
We all forget too we enjoy free banking on most accounts in the main.
My heart doesn’t bleed for the banks who massively subsidise cross product from say mortgages, they can swallow free retail banking with the money made elsewhere.
its a strategic choice not to invest in your core banking infrastructure
My point is they do invest but it’s a massive undertaking and high risk to resolve all legacy technology issues. And much harder for the older / long established brands.
Most of the time things work but ‘Money’ is so emotive when it goes wrong it’s much much worse.
They invest in knackered out green screen tech, bilecause the choice has been not to improve their tech for a range of reasons, and they are stuck as their new competitors are building up the numbers at a rate of knots
Yes legacy stuff is old tech.
The new entrants have the relative advantage of not having to migrate systems processes and customers to new platforms. That’s the challenge.
I've been a Barclays customer for 55 years and can safely say their tech is awful. Even now their app has an appalling feature regarding payees. If you don't make a payment to a payee for 12 months it gets dropped from your list and has to be set up again with all the risks that entails. But it’s worse than that. To keep a payee you must make an immediate payment within 12 months. Setting up a payment in advance, as I did with credit card bills to be paid just before they were due, doesn't count as far as Barclays are concerned. I cannot conceive of setting up a system to work in this way especially without notifying the customer.
On the multiple bank account thing. 50% of people are below average intelligence. Many people struggle to manage their finances with one account. Most of the people who contribute to this forum are fairly bright, and I bet many of them wouldn't dream of having six or seven accounts.
I am not knocking it, Canters, it's brilliant that you play them at their own game and make some cash for yourselves, but not everyone has your ability, so you shouldn't be surprised that not everyone does what you do, mate.
Personally I find it bizarre that this situation has happened and we are blaming customers for being too dumb to have multiple accounts, rather than than calling out the systems we have in place.
Kinda turned into victim blaming which i think is unfair on millions of people.
I don't think it is victim blaming to suggest it is sensible to have a second means of payment - it is just common sense. If you lose, damage or have a card stolen, it takes at least a few days to get a new card. The impact is far more if you're overseas. Same could be said if you are a victim of cloning,
Stating 'common sense' is victim blaming. Do you have 2 cars incase one breaks down ?
You could have 10 cards if you like, if you can't access Internet banking as its crashed, you can't move it anyway (which is also what has happened).
Highly unlikely internet banking would be down across multiple banks though and you don't need internet banking to pay a bill by credit car - hence why the second payment card needs to be with a completely different banking group. For us it has proven worth doing on so many occasions, I honestly couldn't tell you how many times - many of which were when overseas
I get what you're saying, but exactly how much money are people supposed to spread over how many accounts ?. Barclays online was down too, so if that's your main bank you're fkd no matter what is all I'm saying.
I use a Revolut card abroad, but that's a completely different kind of situation.
The four main banks Nat West, Barclays , Lloyds and HSBC and their relevant subsidiaries are running on ibm mainframe computers and the software was originally written in the 60’s.
They tend to store transactions during the day then process them overnight
In the late 80’s/ early 90’s these systems where deemed to risky to rewrite using new platforms/software technology. So where adapted to make them look like they run in realtime
this was then followed by new technology which enabled telephone banking /internet banking.
These systems interface with the old legacy systems which still run overnight to update your account
since about twenty years ago most banks have outsourced their software development to companies abroad. Hence the banks have losted the expertise that they used to have
There could be a number of factors that have caused the outage some including third party software.
These are very complex systems with lots of interfaces and lots of programs.
Even if the bank knew what had caused the outage it is not always easy to explain to the general public what the issue was. it could be a number of issues.
i do agree it could have been handled better.
credit cards by these banks (apart from Barclays) tend to use third party companies to process them rather than the banks own systems. Hence you should in most cases be able to use your credit card even if you can’t use your debit card
for info: Nat west, RBS, coutts, Tesco and Ulster bank all used to use the same system up until about twenty years ago. Think Nat west, rbs. And coutts still do.
I don’t get why people are so loyal to banks, the incumbents treat their customers like shit.
Nationwide have been good for me. Maybe because they're still a Building Society - but I don't get any hard sell, they've never tried to charge me for shit I don't want, and never any tech issues.
I don’t get why people are so loyal to banks, the incumbents treat their customers like shit.
Nationwide have been good for me. Maybe because they're still a Building Society - but I don't get any hard sell, they've never tried to charge me for shit I don't want, and never any tech issues.
Agree. Been with them for donkeys years, and never any problem. And now they've started rewarding their members financially in good years, it's even better.
I don’t get why people are so loyal to banks, the incumbents treat their customers like shit.
Nationwide have been good for me. Maybe because they're still a Building Society - but I don't get any hard sell, they've never tried to charge me for shit I don't want, and never any tech issues.
Our joint account was with Nationwide, but basics like setting up a payment or the app was such a ball ache we upped and left to Starling. Mortgages still there, and agreed the building society ethos is really important.
On the multiple bank account thing. 50% of people are below average intelligence. Many people struggle to manage their finances with one account. Most of the people who contribute to this forum are fairly bright, and I bet many of them wouldn't dream of having six or seven accounts.
I am not knocking it, Canters, it's brilliant that you play them at their own game and make some cash for yourselves, but not everyone has your ability, so you shouldn't be surprised that not everyone does what you do, mate.
Personally I find it bizarre that this situation has happened and we are blaming customers for being too dumb to have multiple accounts, rather than than calling out the systems we have in place.
Kinda turned into victim blaming which i think is unfair on millions of people.
I don't think it is victim blaming to suggest it is sensible to have a second means of payment - it is just common sense. If you lose, damage or have a card stolen, it takes at least a few days to get a new card. The impact is far more if you're overseas. Same could be said if you are a victim of cloning,
Stating 'common sense' is victim blaming. Do you have 2 cars incase one breaks down ?
You could have 10 cards if you like, if you can't access Internet banking as its crashed, you can't move it anyway (which is also what has happened).
Highly unlikely internet banking would be down across multiple banks though and you don't need internet banking to pay a bill by credit car - hence why the second payment card needs to be with a completely different banking group. For us it has proven worth doing on so many occasions, I honestly couldn't tell you how many times - many of which were when overseas
I get what you're saying, but exactly how much money are people supposed to spread over how many accounts ?. Barclays online was down too, so if that's your main bank you're fkd no matter what is all I'm saying.
I use a Revolut card abroad, but that's a completely different kind of situation.
you don't have to spread any money to have a backup credit card so you can at least pay for things. If you want a single back up current account, keep £500 in it - that is all. Just ensure they are from different banking groups
I think both were and are bastards. The good old Woolwich miss-sold me an endowment mortgage and Barclays who took over my mortgage and current account fought me for a further 2 years.
I don’t get why people are so loyal to banks, the incumbents treat their customers like shit.
Nationwide have been good for me. Maybe because they're still a Building Society - but I don't get any hard sell, they've never tried to charge me for shit I don't want, and never any tech issues.
I do find their ad about not closing branches a bit ironic, given they closed all but one of the branches in the SE postcodes a few years ago. And for the past three years they've been sending me an annual summary for a credit card that I cancelled before the pandemic, despite the fact that every year I phone them up to tell them so, and ask them to make sure it is properly closed now. So maybe not as shit as some of the others, but still a bit shit.
I work for a bank here in my country. We don't charge anything for personal current accounts/debit accounts, credit accounts or online banking services like domestic money transfer. And this is the standard practice among all banks here. An outage like this one with Barclays would be simply unimaginable here (meaning it can't happen at all). The food bank answer to customers is... wow, I'm speechless. Your banks really got some nerve... They literally treat the customers like idiots... Or there's simply no competition in your banking industry? It beggars belief.
I work for a bank here in my country. We don't charge anything for personal current accounts/debit accounts, credit accounts or online banking services like domestic money transfer. And this is the standard practice among all banks here. An outage like this one with Barclays would be simply unimaginable here (meaning it can't happen at all). The food bank answer to customers is... wow, I'm speechless. Your banks really got some nerve... They literally treat the customers like idiots... Or there's simply no competition in your banking industry? It beggars belief.
It's partly about competition. In the banking sector over the last 20-30 years the 4 big players have effectively hoovered up every smaller player in existence. It's only in the last couple years when the online banks the likes of Monzo and revolut have come in and given a bit of a shake up. What that concentration of market share over the past couple decades has meant is extreme oligopoly power in the sector leading to 2 things. A race to the bottom in terms of service with the customer getting screwed and both overt an tacit collusion between the big players meaning very little to choose between them in terms of price/products. And allowed them to make profits that are "economically excess" It's a story that's been repeated across so many industries in the UK in the last 30 years.
That and the 50 year direction of constant tax cuts and deregulation for big business in the hope it will fuel some growth has given rise to untold concentration of power in large corporations and influence over government. In the banking sector (ill admit its investment banking rathervthan retail but the 2 are linked) all of the post 2008 crash measures that were put in place to guard against have been gradually rolled back. Additional taxes removed and regulations removed or watered down. All in the hope that we will get a financial services led economic boom like the early 2000s but ignoring the fact that the economic conditions that made that boom possible no longer exist
As you can see, it's a long list and the likes of Monzo and Starling have certainly shaken up the big players (I have accounts at both, Cater Allen and also Virgin Money (really Clydesdale Bank and now owned by Nationwide).
In the past, there was certainly inertia among UK consumers - they opened an account with a bank and stayed there until they died. That situation started to change with the arrival of Metro Bank on the high street. It is certainly true that the big banks need a kicking.
Anyway, my advice for what it is worth is, of course, not to put all your eggs in one basket. Having multiple banks/credit cards is a good idea. In particular, if you are fortunate enough to have more than £85k with a financial institution you should consider having it in various institutions in different groups, so that you don't hit the limit for the FSCS compensation scheme just in case the business does a Northern Rock. (Joint accounts get £85k protection per person.)
Edited to add: Just for the sake of clarity, the likes of Revolut are not banks but electronic money institutions. Any money with them is not covered by the FSCS scheme. (In Revolut's case they seem to use something called safeguarding which involves having funds in another third party institution.)
As you can see, it's a long list and the likes of Monzo and Starling have certainly shaken up the big players (I have accounts at both, Cater Allen and also Virgin Money (really Clydesdale Bank and now owned by Nationwide).
In the past, there was certainly inertia among UK consumers - they opened an account with a bank and stayed there until they died. That situation started to change with the arrival of Metro Bank on the high street. It is certainly true that the big banks need a kicking.
Anyway, my advice for what it is worth is, of course, not to put all your eggs in one basket. Having multiple banks/credit cards is a good idea. In particular, if you are fortunate enough to have more than £85k with a financial institution you should consider having it in various institutions in different groups, so that you don't hit the limit for the FSCS compensation scheme just in case the business does a Northern Rock. (Joint accounts get £85k protection per person.)
Edited to add: Just for the sake of clarity, the likes of Revolut are not banks but electronic money institutions. Any money with them is not covered by the FSCS scheme. (In Revolut's case they seem to use something called safeguarding which involves having funds in another third party institution.)
Definitely -all good advice. And yes re the no more than £85k with one institution - need to keep up-to-date on who are part of the same group
On the multiple bank account thing. 50% of people are below average intelligence. Many people struggle to manage their finances with one account. Most of the people who contribute to this forum are fairly bright, and I bet many of them wouldn't dream of having six or seven accounts.
I am not knocking it, Canters, it's brilliant that you play them at their own game and make some cash for yourselves, but not everyone has your ability, so you shouldn't be surprised that not everyone does what you do, mate.
Personally I find it bizarre that this situation has happened and we are blaming customers for being too dumb to have multiple accounts, rather than than calling out the systems we have in place.
Kinda turned into victim blaming which i think is unfair on millions of people.
I don't think it is victim blaming to suggest it is sensible to have a second means of payment - it is just common sense. If you lose, damage or have a card stolen, it takes at least a few days to get a new card. The impact is far more if you're overseas. Same could be said if you are a victim of cloning,
Stating 'common sense' is victim blaming. Do you have 2 cars incase one breaks down ?
You could have 10 cards if you like, if you can't access Internet banking as its crashed, you can't move it anyway (which is also what has happened).
Highly unlikely internet banking would be down across multiple banks though and you don't need internet banking to pay a bill by credit car - hence why the second payment card needs to be with a completely different banking group. For us it has proven worth doing on so many occasions, I honestly couldn't tell you how many times - many of which were when overseas
I get what you're saying, but exactly how much money are people supposed to spread over how many accounts ?. Barclays online was down too, so if that's your main bank you're fkd no matter what is all I'm saying.
I use a Revolut card abroad, but that's a completely different kind of situation.
you don't have to spread any money to have a backup credit card so you can at least pay for things. If you want a single back up current account, keep £500 in it - that is all. Just ensure they are from different banking groups
There are nearly 9m people with zero savings, expecting them to have £500 sat in a account 'just incase' is not realistic.
I work for a bank here in my country. We don't charge anything for personal current accounts/debit accounts, credit accounts or online banking services like domestic money transfer. And this is the standard practice among all banks here. An outage like this one with Barclays would be simply unimaginable here (meaning it can't happen at all). The food bank answer to customers is... wow, I'm speechless. Your banks really got some nerve... They literally treat the customers like idiots... Or there's simply no competition in your banking industry? It beggars belief.
The UK also does not typically charge, there are certain credit cards you can opt to pay for as they give you rewards for doing so but we have a free personal banking service in the main.
To say a banking outage cannot happen at all in China is an incredibly naive view.
Also worth pointing out with Revolut, is they now have a banking license, so will have the FCSC protections, however queasy it makes you feel about them
I work for a bank here in my country. We don't charge anything for personal current accounts/debit accounts, credit accounts or online banking services like domestic money transfer. And this is the standard practice among all banks here. An outage like this one with Barclays would be simply unimaginable here (meaning it can't happen at all). The food bank answer to customers is... wow, I'm speechless. Your banks really got some nerve... They literally treat the customers like idiots... Or there's simply no competition in your banking industry? It beggars belief.
With the best will in the world, you're in a *slightly* different situation in China...
On the multiple bank account thing. 50% of people are below average intelligence. Many people struggle to manage their finances with one account. Most of the people who contribute to this forum are fairly bright, and I bet many of them wouldn't dream of having six or seven accounts.
I am not knocking it, Canters, it's brilliant that you play them at their own game and make some cash for yourselves, but not everyone has your ability, so you shouldn't be surprised that not everyone does what you do, mate.
Personally I find it bizarre that this situation has happened and we are blaming customers for being too dumb to have multiple accounts, rather than than calling out the systems we have in place.
Kinda turned into victim blaming which i think is unfair on millions of people.
I don't think it is victim blaming to suggest it is sensible to have a second means of payment - it is just common sense. If you lose, damage or have a card stolen, it takes at least a few days to get a new card. The impact is far more if you're overseas. Same could be said if you are a victim of cloning,
Stating 'common sense' is victim blaming. Do you have 2 cars incase one breaks down ?
You could have 10 cards if you like, if you can't access Internet banking as its crashed, you can't move it anyway (which is also what has happened).
Highly unlikely internet banking would be down across multiple banks though and you don't need internet banking to pay a bill by credit car - hence why the second payment card needs to be with a completely different banking group. For us it has proven worth doing on so many occasions, I honestly couldn't tell you how many times - many of which were when overseas
I get what you're saying, but exactly how much money are people supposed to spread over how many accounts ?. Barclays online was down too, so if that's your main bank you're fkd no matter what is all I'm saying.
I use a Revolut card abroad, but that's a completely different kind of situation.
you don't have to spread any money to have a backup credit card so you can at least pay for things. If you want a single back up current account, keep £500 in it - that is all. Just ensure they are from different banking groups
There are nearly 9m people with zero savings, expecting them to have £500 sat in a account 'just incase' is not realistic.
I never said I expected anyone to do anything. I never said have £500 balance. Lots of ways to do it. Looks like you are confusing a balance of £500 with an emergency credit limit on a credit card of £500
I work for a bank here in my country. We don't charge anything for personal current accounts/debit accounts, credit accounts or online banking services like domestic money transfer. And this is the standard practice among all banks here. An outage like this one with Barclays would be simply unimaginable here (meaning it can't happen at all). The food bank answer to customers is... wow, I'm speechless. Your banks really got some nerve... They literally treat the customers like idiots... Or there's simply no competition in your banking industry? It beggars belief.
The UK also does not typically charge, there are certain credit cards you can opt to pay for as they give you rewards for doing so but we have a free personal banking service in the main.
To say a banking outage cannot happen at all in China is an incredibly naive view.
Comments
As for Barclays, well, you just have to look at their FCA fines history to know what a useless shambles they are. (I'm sure another one will be on its way now for inadequate systems and controls.) Here are the highlights:
2009 £2.45mn
2011 £7.7mn
2012 £59.5mn
2014 (two fines) £63.8mn
2015 (two fines) £356.4mn
2020 £26.1mn
2022 (two fines) £10.8mn
2024 £10mn.
You have to seriously question their competence.
Edited to add: Mrs cafcfan has an account with them including a travel wallet facility which is okay.
I use a Revolut card abroad, but that's a completely different kind of situation.
this was then followed by new technology which enabled telephone banking /internet banking.
These systems interface with the old legacy systems which still run overnight to update your account
since about twenty years ago most banks have outsourced their software development to companies abroad. Hence the banks have losted the expertise that they used to have
There could be a number of factors that have caused the outage some including third party software.
Even if the bank knew what had caused the outage it is not always easy to explain to the general public what the issue was. it could be a number of issues.
i do agree it could have been handled better.
credit cards by these banks (apart from Barclays) tend to use third party companies to process them rather than the banks own systems. Hence you should in most cases be able to use your credit card even if you can’t use your debit card
for info: Nat west, RBS, coutts, Tesco and Ulster bank all used to use the same system up until about twenty years ago. Think Nat west, rbs. And coutts still do.
Apparently all is back up and working
we were unable to make loads of currency payments as we just hadn’t received our clients GBP payments.
That and the 50 year direction of constant tax cuts and deregulation for big business in the hope it will fuel some growth has given rise to untold concentration of power in large corporations and influence over government. In the banking sector (ill admit its investment banking rathervthan retail but the 2 are linked) all of the post 2008 crash measures that were put in place to guard against have been gradually rolled back. Additional taxes removed and regulations removed or watered down. All in the hope that we will get a financial services led economic boom like the early 2000s but ignoring the fact that the economic conditions that made that boom possible no longer exist
However there is certainly competition in the UK banking industry.
Here's a recent list of banks authorised to accept deposits, both UK incorporated and foreign.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/prudential-regulation/authorisations/which-firms-does-the-pra-regulate/2024/list-of-banks/bank-list-2404.pdf
As you can see, it's a long list and the likes of Monzo and Starling have certainly shaken up the big players (I have accounts at both, Cater Allen and also Virgin Money (really Clydesdale Bank and now owned by Nationwide).
In the past, there was certainly inertia among UK consumers - they opened an account with a bank and stayed there until they died. That situation started to change with the arrival of Metro Bank on the high street. It is certainly true that the big banks need a kicking.
Anyway, my advice for what it is worth is, of course, not to put all your eggs in one basket. Having multiple banks/credit cards is a good idea. In particular, if you are fortunate enough to have more than £85k with a financial institution you should consider having it in various institutions in different groups, so that you don't hit the limit for the FSCS compensation scheme just in case the business does a Northern Rock. (Joint accounts get £85k protection per person.)
Edited to add: Just for the sake of clarity, the likes of Revolut are not banks but electronic money institutions. Any money with them is not covered by the FSCS scheme. (In Revolut's case they seem to use something called safeguarding which involves having funds in another third party institution.)
The UK also does not typically charge, there are certain credit cards you can opt to pay for as they give you rewards for doing so but we have a free personal banking service in the main.
To say a banking outage cannot happen at all in China is an incredibly naive view.
Lots of ways to do it. Looks like you are confusing a balance of £500 with an emergency credit limit on a credit card of £500