Barclays hit by major IT outage on tax deadline day

Barclays Bank suffers from problems in information technology that affects its application and banking services via the Internet, as well as payments inside and outside the accounts.

BBC customers told them that it prevents them from making basic transactions, starting from buying infant formula to completing a home movement.

Barclays says that cards and cash machines can be used as usual – although some customers He said this is not the case.

A break is on what is the day of payment for many people in the UK, and the deadline for self -evaluation tax declaration.

Barclays did not explain the cause of information technology problems, or the number of people who are affected, but they apologized and say he is “working hard to fix the problem.”

Customers who respond to Barclays announcement of power outages On social media, the reaction of anger while reporting a series of problems it caused.

Someone said that their card had been rejected even though they had money – another said that its wages in January “had disappeared.”

The BBC told that it could not move to its new home due to the power outages, as it described the situation as “ridiculous”.

Scott, 27, and his wife, who is pregnant for four months, said they sold their house on Friday morning, but the money for their new home has not yet passed for the problems in Barclays.

Scott told BBC News that they were actually homeless, and left their car at a service station in Horhamshah and West Sussex.

“Because the system has decreased, money could not pass,” he said.

“We just have to sit and wait.”

Ruth, 39, a cleaner for their own account, told BBC News that she was trying to reach money with her partner from the savings account for several hours so that she could buy milk for the child and food for five other children who take care of them at home.

“We need money to do shopping, all of our money in savings,” she explained.

“I got my 11 -year -old granddaughter here, and also, two years old, is 13 years old, 15 years old at home.”

She said she was able to get some help from her teenage daughter, but she said that others may not be very lucky.

“There may be many single mothers in the same position without access to money,” she told the BBC.

Barclays is one of the largest banks in the UK, with more than 20 million retail clients in the United Kingdom. She says she is treating more than 40 % of credit and discount card transactions in the UK.

Downloader, which monitors interruptions, Thousands of people who have a sign of problems say In the bank.

Friday is the deadline for self -evaluation tax declarations, and some customers said that the power outages left them unable to pay payments to HMRC.

previously, HMRC warned that millions of people did not raise their self -evaluation tax revenuesAnd he warned of the fines of 100 pounds for those who did not meet the deadline.

However, in a statement to the British Broadcasting Corporation, HMRC said it was “working closely” with Barclays to reduce any effect on customers’ introduction to their self -evaluation.

A spokesman added: “Our services are working normally, so customers will be able to provide their returns on time. Today’s cases will not lead to penalties for late payment because they do not advance until March 1,” a spokesman added.

In a statement, Barclays said: “We are in direct contact with HMRC and they are familiar with technical problems with our system.”

He added: “We will guarantee that no customer of his pocket is left due to the delay in the payments resulting from this incident.”

This is not the first time that the banking app is left unable to access money or make payments.

Paypal suffered A brief, but prominent interruption In November, this affected customers worldwide across a number of its products, including cryptocurrencies and the famous payment application from counterpart, Venmo.

Thousands of UK bank clients were affected by payment problems with some of the largest lenders in June last year, with banks including HSBC, Nationwide, Barclays and Virgin Money Everything affected by the problems related to the system This facilitates payments between individuals and companies.

Some clients with financial distress continued to feel the effects of the problem For several days after that.

during The main global information technology interruption last JulyThe UK has not been able to take card payments and IT services were unable to access salary statements after a wrong update by the Crowdstrike Anti -Virus Company affected all over the world.

BCS, the Carted Institute of Information Technology, said Barclays problems showed the importance of powerful computer systems.

“Once again, this explains how cyberspace and digital flexibility are tightly integrated into our lives,” said BCS, Dan Card, BCS.

Additional reports by Lev McMahon