Santander is facing a major outage affecting its mobile and telephone banking servies, as well as its branch network and card payments systems.

Customers have further reported being unable to access online banking services, as well as having difficulty making transactions.

Santander appears to be aware of the problem, as it posted on X: “We’re aware that customers are currently unable to access some of our services. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing, and we are working hard to fix the problem as soon as possible.”

The story has developed since users first reported issues this Thursday at around midday on DownDetector. Santandar said it was aware of those issues, but that online banking and cash machines were still working.

Later updates indicate that online banking is now facing similar technical issues, with users unable to access associated services.

The bank even advised users struggling with other systems to turn to online banking services, though now this solution appears obsolete.

In a message on the Santander website, the bank said: “We are currently facing intermittent issues making payments that we are working hard to resolve.

“If you face issues please try again, and in case of continuing failures please use Online Banking in the meantime.”

This latest outage from a major bank follows a troubling trend of IT failures disrupting millions of customers across the UK.

Between January 2023 and February 2025, at least 158 banking IT outages left customers unable to access essential services, according to data revealed by the UK Treasury Committee.

These incidents, excluding recent high-profile outages at Barclays and Lloyds, highlight growing concerns over the reliability of banking systems, particularly during critical times like payday.

Recommended reading

• Outages Reported Across Major Digital Banking Platforms
• 90% of Cyber Threats Rely on Social Engineering
• NHS Dumfries and Galloway Stolen Data Published on Dark Web

Common causes include third-party supplier issues, system changes, and software malfunctions. One notable outage occurred at Barclays in early 2025, when a mainframe failure left 56% of online payments unresolved, prompting the bank to anticipate £5-7.5 million in compensation. Similar payday disruptions at Lloyds exacerbated the impact, leaving families unable to access wages or pay bills.

Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury Committee, stressed the need for swift responses and better communication during crises. While some banks have compensated affected customers, the recurring nature of these outages underscores the need for improved infrastructure, oversight, and regulatory frameworks to restore customer trust and ensure reliability.