Nationwide Building Society has updated customers after a technical error left some people unable to see their accounts online.
Two concerned customers reached out via social media to ask what was going on as they couldn’t see their mortgage account.
One stated on January 15 at around 9am: “My mortgage account has disappeared from my online banking and banking app. It was there about an hour ago. Went to check something again and it’s now gone. No trace of it.
They followed up asking the building society what was causing the problem, querying: “Is there a glitch or is Nationwide doing some kind of update?”
Another person contacted Nationwide echoing similar concerns. Nationwide’s website explains that customers can ordinarily use the ‘Mortgage Manager’ feature to check their account.
You need to be registered with Internet Bank or via the banking app to access this feature. Advice on the group’s website states: “Check your account details and apply to make changes to your mortgage.
“When making any changes, make sure you are comfortable with any changes you make yourself. If you need advice on making any changes, please call us to speak to one of our mortgage advisers.”
Nationwide provided a response to the worried customers a few hours later. The group said: “Thank you for your message. Accounts were temporarily not visible online, however this has now been resolved.”
The customers confirmed the service had been restored for them. One of them humorously said: “Had hoped they’d maybe just written it off.”
A spokesperson from Nationwide clarified: “Some customers were unable to view their mortgage accounts on the Internet Bank and Banking app for a very short period of time earlier this morning.
“No other accounts were affected. This has now been resolved, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
In a separate case, the building society was had to clarify its policies following a complaint from a customer who had a frustrating experience in branch.
They were mystified when branch staff refused to accept a deposit of less than £100 of Christmas money, for their disabled son.
The customer spelled out their frustration, saying that they were informed by staff that their son “has to present his card in person” due to anti-money laundering regulations.
Nationwide responded firmly, explaining: “We will only be able to accept cash deposit from the account holder themselves. If your son needs assistance managing their accounts, you can look at setting up a power of attorney via your local branch.”
The customer asked again what was the reason for this policy, to which Nationwide reiterated: “I can confirm that the branch were correct, and that this will be due to money laundering regulations.”
The society’s website warns it has a strict policy against money laundering, with the statement: “We monitor payments and transactions, and where necessary we will stop payments, close accounts and relationships where activity is suspicious or cannot be appropriately explained.
“Potential relationships will be declined, and existing relationships terminated (where lawful to do so), where the level of economic crime risk is outside of our risk appetite.”
