Metro Bank customers have expressed outrage after a major IT glitch left many unable to make payments, access funds, or facing unexpected negative balances.
The disruption, which began early Tuesday morning, affected both inbound and outbound payments, with customers reporting duplicate charges and incorrect account balances.
Although the bank announced that the issue had been resolved, users continued to experience problems hours later.
Several customers took to social media to voice their frustration. One user on X, Colleen, wrote that people were “missing work and going without food” due to the outage, demanding compensation.
Another, Emily Gregory, said charges for her purchases had been duplicated, leaving her unable to afford essentials.
Also, Leah Lovena Cairnie shared that she had woken up to a -£500 balance, while another user reported a shocking -£7,000. “We’re not just account numbers,” she wrote. “We’re real people, with families and responsibilities.”
The bank’s service status page initially displayed a message acknowledging that payment services were currently unavailable, while data from Downdetector showed a spike in complaints between 8am and 10am.
Many customers, said issues persisted well into the afternoon.
In a statement, Metro Bank apologised, saying: “We experienced a short delay affecting payments earlier this morning. This was resolved and customers can currently make payments as usual. Some may still see delays or inaccurate balances, and we are working hard to minimise impact.”
The glitch adds to growing scrutiny over UK banks’ IT systems following recent outages at NatWest, Santander and Barclays, which have caused widespread customer frustration and calls for greater accountability in the sector.
