NatWest ‘planned maintenance’ stops customers applying for Help to Buy ISA days before deadline
NatWest’s Bankline business-focused online service has been down for customers intermittently after “planned maintenance”, stopping some users applying for Help to Buy ISAs days before the deadline.
The bank says it carries out all essential maintenance “in the early hours of the morning from 02:00 to 02:40” so as not to cause disruption, but customers took to Twitter from Tuesday afternoon reporting they couldn’t access their account through the app or the website.
NatWest has not released an external statement yet clarifying the times of what customers are calling “maintenance”, but FinTech Futures has approached the bank for comment.
The bank did reply to individual customers on Twitter saying they were “aware of an issue with Bankline” and that their “tech team are investigating this further” “as a matter of urgency”.
The deadline for the Help to Buy ISA is 30 November 2019, which is driving some customers to panic after being unable to apply to the scheme “for a few days”.
One customer told the bank on Twitter: “Do you need to carry out site maintenance every single night? I’ve been trying to apply for a Help to Buy ISA for a few days but do not get home to do so until the late evening. Assuming there’s planned maintenance tomorrow, what time will the site go down?”
Some businesses said they were unable to send out “urgent” payments in the afternoon, and one company called Typocolor tweeted: “Can I request money back for bank charges incurred as a consequence of Bankline being down today?”
Founder of 3D FD and MeetBall Football Andy Brown tweeted the bank: “You’re replying to tweets individually complaining that Bankline is down. Please can you let everyone know what is going on, when we should expect a fix, and also tweet when the fix is finally done? Businesses are trying to pay suppliers and staff.”
There is still no update on whether the Bankline log in issues have been fixed.
