What if you imagine logging on to a bank application to access statements of your most recent transactions, and all one can see on the screen is total darkness? Well, that is what most of Lloyds Banking Group’s customers went through today. From the wee hours, people started reporting problems with the bank’s online services. Neither checking the website nor the mobile app worked for them.

Here’s What’s Going On:
The giant UK bank Lloyds faced a major glitch over the weekend. Customers found that they can’t see either their recent transactions through the usual channels—the app or the website. While overall balances showed up, details regarding individual payments or transferred monies just wouldn’t show up for customers.

In response, Lloyds issued an apology: “We know some of our customers are having issues viewing their recent transactions, and our app may be running slower than usual. We’re sorry about this and we’re working to have everything back to normal soon.”

When Did It All Start?
The issues arose during the morning of September 7; complaints began to roll in shortly after 7 AM (UTC). The first reports about problems were published by the online service for monitoring blackouts – Downdetector. To date, for many customers, the problem has not yet been solved.

What Is It Like for Customers Now?
It appears customers are at least able to view their account balance. This will be some small relief to those who may have been worried that they could no longer check to see that their money is still there. Also, payments such as standing orders seem to be going through okay. However, the point that is so frustrating to them is that they are not able to see any transaction information – nothing for either the older transactions or transactions that just occurred.
Noticing that the problem is affecting the new banking app of Lloyds is what others noted. But the website was also failing to work, which indicates that specific problem is not relative to that app. Some customers, when seeking help on social media, were less than grateful. Lloyds “social media team” advised them to try clearing cookies or log in on a different browser — which didn’t work for anyone.

At 10:16 AM (UTC), the bank updated its page on X (previously Twitter) with the following message: “We are aware there is an issue and our IT team is at work to fix this as soon as possible. If you can use the ‘September’ tab, you should be able to see all transactions.”

A History of Tech Troubles
This isn’t the first time Lloyds has had problems with its digital services. Like many big companies, Lloyds places great reliance on outside firms to actually operate its IT services. That year, it signed such a contract with Microsoft for its mobile and desktop outsourcing. In 2017, Lloyds also signed a deal with IBM. Despite these partnerships, the bank has experienced several outages over the past few years, including a particularly difficult start to 2020 when its services were down for an extended period.

Not Just About Viewing Transactions
Today’s problem appears only to revolve around the display of transactions. But it does not do any good to customers that such breakdowns occurred when Lloyds made a new announcement on branch closures. A lot of customers are already fed up with this movements to online banking. Most especially those who appreciated better what physical branches can offer to them.

Vin Maru, Lloyds Group Retail Director, said: “Our branch network obviously remains vitally important to us being able to help and support our customers, but at the same time we have to respond to the ever-increasing customer demand for the flexibility of carrying out their everyday banking online.”
This is the latest outage problem that not only Lloyds but other banks have experienced. As more and more people move their financial transactions online, such glitches become obvious and increasingly irritating. Some of them have gone farther than being merely annoyed by regularly occurring hitches and shutdowns, incidents that make it really uneasy to deal with people’s money.

In customers’ minds, this is starting to breed a perception that these outages could be in some way associated with the IT that the bank has outsourced to other companies. In trying to cut costs, the bank is one of many, losing control of the quality and reliability of services. And customers are at the receiving end when those services fail.

What Next for Lloyds?
Lloyds now says they are doing all they can to fix the problem quickly. The IT department at Lloyds must be working overtime to make sure the online services are back in shape. For the customers who rely on the app or website, it has been a big pain over the past few days for their day-to-day banking.

Also, some are asking if Lloyds will be giving compensation to the customers for such a thing. After all, online banking is not just a convenience for so many people any more; for them, it is the necessity. With more of the bank’s branches shutting down, the customers expect that the online services run smoothly and are easily available to them at every beck and call.
Today’s outage at Lloyds is a reminder of how dependent we have become on technology for even the most basic tasks. While digital banking offers many benefits, like convenience and speed, it also brings new challenges. When technology fails, as it did today, it can leave customers feeling helpless and frustrated.

So what’s the lesson here? It’s probably high time that banks, especially Lloyds, turn their attention a bit more on making sure that their technology is as dependable as possible, since so many people depend on it every day. Lloyds Bank is working to find a solution to the problem, and customers feel it will not be done a moment too soon. However, perhaps this event a wake-up call toward the possible side effects of our reliance on computerized banks. As we move into a computerized society, events like this will likely occur, one of the bumps on the road for both the banks and customers.

Meanwhile, let’s hope Lloyds gets their systems back up! After all, no one likes to be kept in the dark, least of all in regard to the money being spent.