Barclays customers unable to buy essentials after major IT outage

Barclays bank is experiencing serious IT problems which are affecting its app and online banking, as well as payments in and out of accounts.

Customers have told the BBC it is preventing them making essential transactions, ranging from buying baby milk to completing a house move.

Barclays says cards and cash machines can be used as normal – though some customers have said this is not the case., external

The outage is occurring on what is pay day for many people in the UK, and the deadline for self-assessment tax returns.

Barclays has not explained the cause of the IT problems, or how many people are affected but has apologised and says it is “working hard to fix the issue”.

Customers replying to Barclays’ announcement about the outage, external on social media have reacted with fury while reporting a series of problems it is causing them.

One said their card had been declined despite them having funds – another said that that her January wages “had disappeared”.

A family has told the BBC they can’t move into their new house because of the outage, branding the situation “ridiculous”.

Scott, 27, and his wife, who is four months pregnant, said they had sold their house on Friday morning, but the money for their new home had not gone through yet due to the problems at Barclays.

Scott told BBC News they were effectively homeless, and had been left waiting in their car at a service station in Horsham, West Sussex.

“Because the system is down, the money can’t go through”, he said.

“We just have to sit and wait.”