Thousands of customers of Lloyds Banking Group found themselves locked out of their online banking accounts on Tuesday, forced to confront the terrifying prospect of actually having to walk into a branch and speak to a human being.
According to the online outage tracker Downdetector, users began reporting problems at around 1115 BST, sending a collective shudder through the nation's smartphone-wielding savers. The banking giant, which owns Lloyds Bank, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland and proudly serves 26 million customers, has been contacted for comment, though we suspect they're a bit busy right now.
Halifax took to X to reassure panicked customers, posting: "Some customers are having issues with accessing our Mobile App right now. Bear with us as we fix this." One Lloyds customer reported the bank went down mid-transaction, while another noted they couldn't access online banking via either the app or the website. The app itself offered a helpful error message: "Sorry, we're having a few technical problems. Logging in again may fix the issue, but if this doesn't help, please try again later." It also displayed a 503 error, which tech folks know means the server is not ready to handle requests - or, as normal people call it, a digital shrug.
This isn't the bank's first rodeo with digital dysfunction. In March, nearly half a million Lloyds Banking Group customers had the unsettling experience of seeing other people's transactions or having their own data shared after an IT glitch. So if you're a customer, maybe keep some cash under the mattress - just in case the app decides to take another unscheduled vacation.