NatWest customers furious after they were charged TWICE in tech glitch
NATWEST customers are furious after being charged TWICE in a banking glitch.
People have complained to the bank that "double" transactions have appeared on their accounts - even sending some into their overdraft.
One fuming customer said the double payments from the weekend had "wiped" their account and sent them into an unarranged overdraft.
They said: "Double payments from weekend wiping out account and putting it into unarranged overdraft that had to get out of, and don't know if your going to charge me for this error on your part, and don't know when money is coming back to us."
Another raged "Any idea what’s going on with this double transaction stuff all my money has been taken out my bank leaving me with nothing"
A third complained: "So NatWest have had a glitch and appears as though transactions have doubled ?"
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And a fourth said they were "out of pocket near half the money in my account".
NatWest has responded to customers saying that there is a technical issue affecting some customer accounts.
The bank told one user on Twitter: "We are aware of an incident whereby customers are seeing transactions duplicated as both cleared and pending causing incorrect balances to be shown.
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"I assure you our team are working hard to resolve this. I apologise for any inconvenience this has caused"
Another message to a customer said the problem was affecting transactions from "around May 7".
A NatWest spokesperson said: “We are aware that some NatWest customers’ accounts are showing some Visa debit card purchases twice, and in certain cases their available balance will be lower than it should.
"We are working to fix the problem, and will ensure that no customer is left out of pocket.
"Our customers can be assured that payments to retailers/merchants have only been made once, so there is no need to contact them. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”
On the NatWest has said that some debit card purchases are showing twice, affecting the available balance.
It appears the issue is only affecting debit cards, not credit cards, and that other aspects of online banking and payments are unaffected.
The bank is advising customers affected to contact the bank if they need help, though warned that customer service lines could be busier than usual.
You can find contact numbers and other ways to get help from and
What are my rights if I'm charged twice?
It's not clear yet how customers will be reimbursed but NatWest has promised they won't be left out of pocket.
It is worth gathering evidence of any problems so you can make a formal complaint to the bank directly if necessary.
Make a note of charges you had to pay because of the glitch, and any other costs you incurred.
This could include overdraft fees, or charges for rejected payments if you didn't have enough cash in your account to cover a bill or payment.
If your credit rating has been affected because you got a late payment fee after being unable to make a transaction, for example, you should also keep a record of this.
If you spoke to anyone to try and resolve the problem, make a note of their name and when you spoke to them, as well as roughly what you discussed and what they advised you to do.
You can make a complaint to NatWest or RBS in a branch or online. Here's how to do it and .
Think about how much you expect to be compensated, and when you expect to receive it and include it in your complaint.
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If you're unhappy with how your complaint has been handled, the outcome, or if the banks don't respond within eight weeks you can escalate it to the (FOS) for free.
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