Online bank customers still locked out

Internet glitches are still locking Bank of Scotland customers out of their accounts a week after the group claimed the problems had been resolved.

Millions of Lloyds Banking Group customers were unable to view transactions online last week following a merger of the Bank of Scotland and Halifax internet banking systems, with many business customers locked out of their accounts entirely.

The bank claimed last Thursday that the difficulties had been fixed. But it has emerged that a “small number” of customers are still experiencing problems. Scotsman reader Simon Guiton said yesterday that his business has been without online banking since 12 September.

“Since then, despite spending hours on the online banking helpline, we are no further on. When I spoke to someone yesterday, I was told it could be another seven to ten days before this is resolved,” he said. “What annoys me most is that there is no sense of urgency to get this resolved.”

A Bank of Scotland spokesman said: “We made some updates to our systems last week and while most customers are experiencing no difficulties with their banking facilities, we are aware of a small number of commercial customers who are having problems logging into their online accounts.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, and are working to fix it as soon as we can.”