Thousands of customers affected as major High Street bank app goes down

Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

HSBC's mobile banking app has crashed, leaving thousands of customers unable to access their accounts.

According to DownDetector, over 3,000 users have reported issues with the app so far. Several customers taken to social media to voice their anger as they have been unable to get into their accounts after the app went down this morning.

One user, writing on X, formerly Twitter, said: "HSBC are you aware that your online banking is not working this morning?", while another added: "What's happening with online services, cannot authorise a payment, cannot access, website, app or online systems?"

In a short statement posted to X, HSBC wrote: "Some customers are having issues accessing online and mobile banking as usual right now. We're really sorry and are investigating as a matter of urgency. We will share an update as soon as possible."

One customer, who attempted to log into the app said they recieved an error message that read: "503 ERROR The request could not be satisfied. The Lambda function associated with the CloudFront distribution was throttled. We can't connect to the server for this app or website at this time."

Responding to the graph posted by Down Detector, which monitors online issues across the globe, another furious customer said: "Seems to be down for all of us. Not sure why they are saying private DM, this is obviously a wider not individual issue. GET IT TOGETHER HSBC, BANKING IS NOT OPTIONAL."

The graph also suggests that issues with the app were first reported much earlier this morning at 8:02am. By 8:17am, there were over 1,600 reports of outages by HSBC users.

The outage follows a previous glitch in HSBC's online system in November last year. The bank had apologised after more than 10,000 customers were locked out of their accounts on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, Black Friday. At the time, Down Detector, reported over 3,000 issues - making it a serious outage.

Speaking on the outage occuring today, May 4, 2024, a UK HSBC spokesperson said: "Our Online and Mobile Banking services are recovering. Customers should be able to use the services as normal. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused this morning."

HSBC has more than 14 million active customers across the UK. According the bank's website, over 5 million of those are using the HSBC mobile app for their day-to-day banking.

While the latest service update reads that both online and mobile banking services are recovering, several frustrated users have responded saying there has been no movement on their end. One person replied: "I've just tried to withdraw cash and it said 'transaction failed'. Also online still not working 20 mins after this update."

Another said: "No, it's not working! Please do not post misleading information", while a third added: "11.50am - app not working still. Come on."

A later update posted by HSBC on X at 2pm read: "We're very sorry that some customers are having issues accessing personal online & mobile banking. The issue is intermittent, so please keep trying. Debit & credit cards, digital wallet & ATMs working. You can authorise online card purchases via SMS."

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