BANK ERROR NOT IN YOUR FAVOUR!
If you are a customer of RBS, NatWest, or Ulster Bank you may be able to claim compensation for the computer problems which affected millions of accounts on Monday.
For the third time in eighteen months customers of RBS, NatWest, and Ulster Bank have been unable to get at their money or their bank accounts.
The problem lasted for several hours on Monday evening. If you tried to pay with a debit card or take money out of an ATM after 6.30pm on Monday 2 December then your transaction will have failed. Online banking was also down.
The banking group claimed the problem was solved by 9.30pm. And slowly debit cards began to work. But then another problem became clear. As the system came back online credits made during Monday disappeared. That meant some customers were left with no money or an overdraft. So they still could not use their cards to make payments or get cash because there was no money recorded in their account.
During the course of Tuesday these problems slowly resolved themselves as the payments ‘batch’ was reprocessed. No money went missing permanently and by the time you read this your account balance should be correct, payments in and out should be made and your card should work.
The banking group says it will reimburse any costs that the problem has caused. So there should be no charges levied on your account for going overdrawn or for a payment being missed. And if a payment you were making leads to a penalty from a card company or a utility provider then the bank should reimburse that too.
If the lack of cash caused you expenseson Monday evening or Tuesday then those should be reimbursed too. If you had to get a taxi because your car was stuck in a car park or with fuel unpaid for at a garage that might be covered. But if you were trying to snap up a bargain when prices were cut for Cyber Monday and you now have to pay more for it is unlikely you will be given the difference. But it is worth a try! Keep all relevant receipts.
To claim compensation you can call into your local branch. Or call the helplines RBS 0800 151 0405 or 03457 242424. NatWest 0800 151 0404 or 03457 888444. Ulsterbank0800 046 5486 or 08457 424365.
A similar outage occurred in March and in June 2012 customers of these banks were without access to their money for several days and, in the case of Ulster Bank, four weeks. If that makes you want to change banks, my guide to finding the cheapest or most ethical is here http://paullewismoney.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/swifter-switching.html
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