Customers are furious that RBS and Natwest made their cash disappear - and now the banks are charging them penalty fees
Britons are freaking out over how the Royal Bank of Scotland and its subsidiary Natwest made thousands of customers' pay cheques, welfare payments, and transfers disappear.
What makes the situation worse, is that the customers are STILL waiting for their money to enter their accounts AND the bank is charging them penalty fees because the missing money is causing many to fall into their overdrafts or unagreed lending facilities, as bills and rent continue to exit their accounts.
Yesterday morning, around 600,000 payments failed to enter the accounts of RBS customers overnight. In a statement and on Twitter, RBS said some of the payments were "missing" while others had not been processed.
It added that customers could be waiting until Saturday for the missing payments to enter their accounts.
This is a HUGE deal because these payments range from people's monthly salaries, which obviously pays for housing and bills, as well as welfare payments for the more financial vulnerable in society.
Also, let's say, if your salary comes in on the 1st of the month, and your bills come out the same day, then if your salary payment is missing - that means you'll have a vast amount of money coming out of your account and nothing going in. This could take you over your overdraft and you could be charged fees - even if it's not your fault.
Like these people:
On BBC Radio 5 this morning, the chief executive of the British Bankers' Association Anthony Browne said: "The banks are already aware of this as an issue. A lot of them have creaking IT systems. They're spending £3bn a year upgrading their IT systems - it's one of the biggest IT upgrades that Britain has ever seen. It is unacceptable."
Here is what some RBS and Natwest customers are saying: