Perfect timing for a two-bank TITSUP: Totally Inexcusable They've Stuffed Up Payday

HSBC joins TSB

Updated It's Friday, it's payday, and UK online banking has once again come under fire, though if you're with TSB or HSBC you'll already know this.

Reports of yet another British banking meltdown have been rolling in this morning.

Of course the TSB app isn’t working on PAYDAY of all days fkn hell just let me see how much money I can waste this weekend :sob::sob:

— Chloe hastie (@chloehastiex) September 27, 2018

Hundreds of embattled TSB customers complained that they can't access the mobile app or online banking on DownDetector.

Although TSB hasn't said exactly what the problem is, users have reported being told their login details are wrong.

"Website login to personal account rejecting memorable information, mobile app does authenticate, then fails when memorable information entered," said one user on DownDetector.

"Again!! Cannot login on the mobile app, online, keeps telling me password is wrong," said another. "What a shitty bank seriously... time to change the bank I think."

Similar sentiments were shared on Twitter, as users mooted ditching the bank that seems incapable of providing a stable service for customers.

TSB app down again . Time to switch banks .

— Charlie Ventris🤪 (@charlie_ventris) September 27, 2018

Others accepted their fate – saying that they could not longer be surprised by the bank's outages (by the way, those that don't can complain here).

Iv become immune to @TSB fucking up my life.

— ••CAITLIN•• (@caitlin_ldn) September 28, 2018

Today's is just the latest in a long line of outages for TSB customers, beginning with a week-long meltdown in April after a botched migration from the bank's former parent company Lloyds Banking Group's systems.

Although it claimed to have eventually dealt with the problems – and has since said farewell to CEO Paul Pester – the bank is still having fairly regular, if shorter, outages, with the most recent being just three weeks ago.

We asked the press office to pull out a line on the outage (which we expect they have permanently saved in drafts at the moment).

"We're aware of an issue affecting some of our customers when they are using our mobile app and Internet Banking this morning," the spokesperson said. "We are working hard to fix these issues and will update again as soon as we can. Customers are still able to use their cards as normal."

Meanwhile, HSBC customers are also reporting issues logging in to their mobile apps, with Twitter users posting images of an undefined system error.

@HSBC you having problems. We are all unable to use app pic.twitter.com/5ZMNBPzPYX

— Andy (@andywalker35) September 28, 2018

HSBC's press office was not as quick off the mark as TSB, but said on Twitter that it was investigating the problem.

We are aware some customers are experiencing problems using Mobile Banking. We are investigating and will provide further updates. If your query is urgent please call us on 03 457 404 404. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

— HSBC UK (@HSBC_UK) September 28, 2018

The news that two major UK banks are unable to provide customers with online services – which for many of us is payday – comes just a week after services from Barclays, RBS and NatWest took an unscheduled nap.

The outages prompted the Treasury Committee to write to Barclays and RBS (which is the parent of NatWest) demanding answers on the glitch.

The MPs are being increasingly annoyed by the regular digital blackouts accompanying many banks' decisions to shutter high street branches.

Any justification for closing branches "carry little weight if their banking apps and websites cannot be relied upon", committee chair Nicky Morgan warned. ®

Updated to add 0930 UTC

An HSBC spokesman got in touch to say: "Services are recovering and the majority of our customers are able to log-on now, but we are continuing to monitor the issue. If a customer continues to experience problems they should continue to retry or our online banking services are available via browser. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."