Barclays customers are facing continued disruption as a major IT issue extends into its second day, preventing many from accessing their accounts or viewing accurate balances. The outage, which began on Friday morning (January 31), has left hundreds struggling to make payments, meet tax deadlines, and manage their finances effectively.
Ongoing Technical Issues
The widespread banking failure has coincided with January payday and the Self-Assessment tax return deadline, intensifying the financial strain on affected customers. Barclays has acknowledged that some users may see outdated balances, with payments made or received not appearing in their accounts.
Despite these issues, the bank has assured customers that they can still use their cards and withdraw cash while the remaining problems are resolved.
Customer Frustrations Mount
Frustrated Barclays customers have taken to social media to voice their concerns. One user on X (formerly Twitter) described being unable to receive a food delivery, leaving their four children without food. Another distressed mother reported that her four-month-old baby was crying due to a lack of milk powder, as she could not access her funds.
Other customers have shared embarrassing and difficult experiences, including being unable to pay for groceries at checkout. “I’ve just had to put all my shopping back in Tesco. Never been so embarrassed in my life,” one user wrote. Another customer asked, “How can I eat and keep warm if I can’t get to my funds?”
Barclays Responds
The bank has repeatedly apologized for the outage, acknowledging the disruption on social media. A Barclays representative stated, “We’re having some problems with our systems today, and you may have trouble using some features in our app, online banking, as well as payments in and out of your accounts.”
On Saturday morning, the bank issued another apology, stating, “We are incredibly sorry for the ongoing technical issues impacting our customers’ accounts. We are working hard to fix this issue, and customers should not attempt to make payments again until resolved.”
Current Status and Next Steps
According to outage tracking website Down Detector, over 1,600 reports of service disruption have been logged since the issues began. Barclays has reiterated that customers will not be left out of pocket due to the outage and that updates will be provided as soon as the issue is fully resolved.
For now, customers are advised to monitor their accounts closely and avoid making duplicate payments while Barclays works to restore full service. The bank has reassured users that their funds remain secure and that normal banking operations will resume as soon as possible.
