For the second day in a row, a Barclays client could not complete necessary activities due to a banking outage that started on Friday. The outage affected payments, transfers, and online banking, leaving thousands of customers upset.
Many customers reported issues purchasing necessities, including baby formula and groceries, while others faced severe financial setbacks. Diane Forrest, a Barclays customer from London, said the outage prevented her from completing a house purchase.
Forrest waited outside her new home for four hours with all her belongings in a removal truck but found no solution. An online business owner, Tim Horner, reported losing thousands of pounds because customers could not process payments through his Barclays-linked platform. He also struggled to pay employees and meet tax obligations before the self-assessment deadline.
Barclays assured customers that debit cards, credit cards, and ATMs remained operational, though many users contradicted this claim. A bank spokesperson acknowledged the Barclays banking outage and reassured customers that they would not suffer financial losses due to the incident.
However, Barclays has not disclosed the cause of the problem or how many customers were affected. The banking crisis coincided with the UK’s self-assessment tax return deadline, increasing stress for thousands.
Although HMRC collaborated with Barclays to minimize the impact, some customers worried about potential fines for missed payments. HMRC clarified that late payment penalties would not apply until March 1, easing some concerns.
The Barclays banking outage incident highlights recurring issues with digital banking. In November, PayPal recently faced a global outage, disrupting cryptocurrency services and peer-to-peer transactions. Barclays has yet to confirm when its systems will fully recover.
