Barclays’ online banking and mobile app was down again, with hundreds of users reporting issues with the services which have since come back online.
The website Down Detector – which allows users to report issues with apps and sites – registered more than 1,000 reports that the services were not working this morning (March 8). More than 70% said they could not transfer funds between accounts.
Complaints by customers peaked at just over 1,000 at 9.37am this morning but have since fallen back to around 740.
A Barclays spokesperson said: “Customers are currently experiencing issues making payments in our app and when using online banking. Customers can still use their cards and withdraw cash. We’re working hard to fix the issue and apologise for the inconvenience caused. As soon it’s resolved, we’ll let our customers know.”
After service resumed, a Barclays spokesperson said: “We’re extremely sorry for the technical issues that some of our customers experienced this morning when using our app, online banking and with payments in and out of their accounts. Everything is now back up and running.”
Only a few weeks ago Barclays suffered a major outage which lasted days, leaving customers financially stranded.
Users have already taken to social media to express their frustrations. “Barclays is down again. I’m changing banks asap,” one wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Another commented: “I am SO over Barclays quite literally RUINING lives. Completely ruined my holiday last time not letting me access my money now the apps down AGAIN so another weekend of not being able to access my own money or even talk to staff about it.”
Barclays has acknowledged the fresh outage, apologising to customers on X. The bank said: “We’re having some problem making and receiving payments today – we’re sorry about this and we’re hare to fix the issue.
“You may be unable to make a payment using our app, Online Banking or when speaking to our colleagues – payments into your account may also be delayed.
“All other services are working as normal.”
Barclays customers looking to check whether their banking services are working can visit status.uk.barclays.
The bank’s customers suffered similar difficulties just over a month ago when access to key services was restricted for three days–starting for many on payday. According to Barclays, more than half of attempts to make online payments failed during that incident.
Earlier this week, the bank said it could pay out up to £12.5 million in compensation to customers affected by outages over the last two years.
It came after new data published by the Treasury Committee revealed 33 days’ worth of unplanned tech and system outages in the last two years for nine of the UK’s biggest banks and building societies.
Out on top was Barclays with 33 outages (93 hours), followed by NatWest with the longest downtime (194 hours across 13 outages).
Scott Dawson, chief executive officer of payments processor DECTA, said the recurring nature of banking app outages highlighted the “critical lack of resilience in our financial infrastructure”.
He added: “Beyond mere inconvenience, these failures disrupt essential payments, impacting livelihoods and business operations.
“The inability to pay staff or purchase necessities creates genuine hardship.”
