TSB still limiting access to online banking as IT chaos continues

TSB’S catastrophic IT crisis shows few signs of abating as customers continued to struggle to access accounts yesterday and the bank indicated the problem was wider ranging than it first thought.

The financial firm is still limiting the numbers of people who can use its online services as it scrambles to get them up and running again. Numerous people have taken to social media to complain of being unable to see their account balances and needing to make payments as they approach payday. Some employers admitted they were worried they would not be able to pay their staff on time.

TSB customers who have managed to log in have complained of being unable to pay bills, receive payments or see their mortgage accounts. The bank has struggled to cope with a deluge of complaints, with some protesting that they have been unable to get through on its customer service phone line or being cut off after hours spent waiting on hold.

The IT failure has prompted many people to consider switching banks, according to data from comparison website Gocompare. It said that the number of people using its current account comparison service this week doubled following the TSB chaos, increasing rapidly on Monday and then peaking on Tuesday and has stayed at that level since.

Georgie Frost, consumer advocate at Gocompare, said: “With the disruption at TSB there will be a large number of very disgruntled customers thinking about switching to another bank, while the well-publicised problems may well have made other bank customers consider their options too.”

TSB has insisted none of its customers will be left out of pocket by the problems. They have offered to waive all overdraft fees for the month of April and increased the interest rate on its most popular Classic Plus account from 3pc to 5pc in an attempt to hang on to customers tempted to switch banks.

Meanwhile, the bank has advertised for a new head of infrastructure in its IT department. The advert appeared on the bank’s website on Wednesday.

A spokesman for TSB said it was in no way related to the embarrassing IT crisis and that the company “recruits all the time”.

Philip Augur, a former non-executive director at TSB, told the BBC that the bank could be facing fines “in the low tens of millions”.