Ulster Bank 'full service' next week

Published Tuesday, 26 June 2012
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The Ulster Bank now hopes to have full service restored by the beginning of next week as their staff continue to battle through a backlog of transactions.

Ulster Bank 'full service' next week
Ulster Bank has been heavily criticised by a number of agencies. (© PA)

The bank says it is facilitating customers to take cash out on credit cards, interest free, and confirmed that no customer will be out of pocket as a result of the technical glitches.

"We are confident that this will help us restore a full service for the start of next week," a statement read.

Ulster Bank branches on Monday received 13,500 people through their doors and 20,000 calls through our their centre.

The bank also confirmed they would be working with credit reference agencies to ensure customers' credit ratings are not impacted.

Ulster Bank has once again said sorry as the crisis continues for a second week.

Thirty two branches will be open in Northern Ireland until 7pm every evening for the rest of the week.

A statement said: "We continue to work through the backlog of payments caused by the recent RBS Group-wide technical issue with a view to completing this by the weekend.

"We once again apologise to customers for the continued inconvenience."

The statement continued: "In branch, we are facilitating our customers who may have experienced delays in receiving salary or social welfare benefits on the production of payslips and identification.

"Customers who are unable to get to a branch or an ATM should contact us on 0800 231232."

We can confirm that no customer, including customers of other banks, will be out of pocket as a result of this issue.

Stephen Cruise, Ulster Bank

On Tuesday, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBSG) issued a statement to say that RBS and Natwest customer account balances had cleared overnight - with the exception of a few specific sets of transactions.

"We are confident that this will help us restore a full service for the start of next week for Ulster Bank and remain grateful for our customers' patience.

"We know this disruption was unacceptable and that many customers will still have questions and concerns. It is possible a small number of customers may experience delays as we return to a completely normal service. We will continue to extend our branch opening hours all week."

Ulster Bank has come under heavy criticism over the delays in processing the transactions.

They had previously said that the payments problems would be sorted by Monday.

Antoinette McKeown, CEO of the Consumer Council, has been highly critical of Ulster Bank's handling of the crisis.

"They have been very slow to come out with information, when they did it was confusing, it continues to be misleading," she has said.

Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) has also expressed worry at the ongoing problems.

The association is concerned about the knock-on effect the disruption will have on salaries and direct debits due to be paid at the end of the week.

EXTERNAL LINKS / CONTACTS
Ulster Bank telephone: 0800 231232
Meanwhile Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King said on Tuesday that bank bosses should be subject to a "detailed investigation" over what went wrong and why it has taken so long to sort out the issues with the RBS group banks.
© UTV News
Comments Comments
20 Comments
Sarah in Belfast wrote (323 days ago):
What I don't understand is how they are saying that they have sorted out 99% of those affected, and have been saying this from the start of the week. If they managed to sort out the backlog with RBS and Natwest within a matter of days after the technical issue was corrected, why are they taking so long for the remaining 1% with Ulster Bank. They say millions were affected in England/Scotland and 100,000 from Ulster Bank, yet Natwest and RBS are sorted within a few days while Ulster Bank customers (and those paid through Ulster Bank) have to wait almost 2 weeks. Frustrating to say the least.
Louise in Belfast wrote (325 days ago):
Banks use software and software fails. To be honest, it's a miracle that this has not happened sooner. If there is one thing that this is teaching us is that we need to have a back-up savings somewhere. We can't put our entire trust into one account. Although a pain to have to go into the bank itself, the staff at my local branch where nothing but apologetic and polite. People asking for money and complaining about other issues, clearly have an already negative agenda against Ulster Bank or banks in general. But they have my utmost respect for what they are doing to avoid any negative impact on my credit rating or financial history.
NORMA in BALLYMENA wrote (325 days ago):
iv had my sky cut of due to direct debit return and not being able to use my card to pay it,answer i got from sky was when the banks sorted ring back with payment,wonder if the banks gonna pay me to get it turned back on and for all the phone calls to companies.if i were 20p overdrawn in my account im charged 25.00
Anne in blackpool wrote (325 days ago):
I am in the same boat as Christopher (Leeds above). I could not access any money or any of my accounts as there are no Ulsterbanks in England and Natwest were unhelpful. The whole ordeal has been a total nightmare. I will be swiftly moving my money to a reliable bank just as soon as Ulsterbank can access my account!
is it a big deal in bangor wrote (325 days ago):
i dont want to hear sorry, i want excess to my monies.
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