Double IT trouble from Nationwide and NatWest

by Ed Bowsher on 27 July 2012  |  2 comments
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Nationwide has double charged some debit card customers while NatWest had more IT problems.

A significant chunk of Nationwide current account customers have been charged twice for a number of transactions this week. The building society has apologised and is promising to make full refunds.

And, following its major system failure last month, NatWest has had more problems with its online banking and debit cards. 

Nationwide's error

As for Nationwide, if you're a current account customer, and you used your debit card on Tuesday, you may find that you’ve been charged twice for the transaction – once on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday. Channel Four News has reported that as many as 700,000 customers have been affected. It's possible that large transactions such as property deals and car purchases may have been double charged by the building society.

Nationwide has already apologised for the incident and says it’s due to human error. The building society says it will refund any ‘related charges’ arising from the incident. Presumably this means penalty fees for unauthorised overdrafts and the like.

This week’s computer problems are badly timed for Nationwide as the building society had been winning current account customers from both NatWest and Barclays in recent weeks. Dissatisfied big bank customers may now be reluctant to switch to Nationwide if there’s a lack of confidence in the building society’s systems.

I suspect the real test for Nationwide will be whether the building society can sort everything out this week. If there are no further problems and all out-of-pocket customers get refunded quickly, the damage to Nationwide may not be that great.

But if the situation deteriorates further, Nationwide could see a big fall in the number of new current account customers.

That would be a shame because Nationwide’s FlexAccount is attractive. It comes with a nice package of ‘extras’ including free travel insurance for Europe, yet you don’t have to pay a monthly fee to have the account.

Further woes for NatWest

Further computer issues are the last thing NatWest needs. However, this time the bank appears to have got on top of whatever the problem was very swiftly.

The NatWest Help Twitter account tweeted this morning: "Online banking is now fully operational and debit card transactions are processing as normal. We continue to monitor our systems closely and will keep you fully informed. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Have you been having problems with your Nationwide or NatWest accounts this week? Let us know in the Comments box below.

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