The bank has started to pay compensation to those affected by a major outage earlier this year
Barclays customers have started to see ‘free cash’ appear in their accounts.
That’s because the bank has started to pay compensation to those affected by a major outage earlier this year.
The glitch, caused by a software problem in a part of Barclays’ mainframe operating system, left thousands of people unable to make and receive payments in January.
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The outage, which lasted several days, not only coincided with payday for millions of Brits, but also the HMRC self-assessment tax deadline.
Barclays had previously said it would compensate customers who had been left out of pocket – and The Sun reports that most payments were being made today.
Customers will see the payment appear in their mobile app payment feed as “Barclays UK Refu” alongside the payment amount, the Mirror reports.
The payment took some by surprise as they took to social media to ask about the cash.
One said: “Does anyone have any idea why @Barclays would send me a payment for £50?”
Another posted: “Barclays just refunded me £600?? I don’t know what’s going on down there but I will be taking that money.”
A third wrote: “Did anyone else randomly receive 50 pounds from Barclays?”
Barclays announced last month that it could pay out up to £7.5million in compensation to affected customers and was using its own records to try and identify customers that may have been impacted, prioritising those who were considered vulnerable.
Customers could also raise a complaint directly with Barclays on 0800 282 390 from the UK, or +44 (0)207 116 7488 from abroad.
Those unhappy with the outcome of their complaint could contact the Financial Ombudsman Service for free.
The Treasury Committee published new data today, which revealed there has been more than 33 days’ worth of unplanned tech and system outages in the last two years for nine of the UK’s biggest banks and building societies.
Barclays could pay out up to £12.5million in compensation to customers affected by outages over the last two years.
“We welcome the opportunity to engage with the Treasury Select Committee and responded in detail to the questions the committee raised,” a Barclays spokesperson said.
“Supporting and serving our customers remains our number one priority.
“We continue to work hard to keep all our services available and we are deeply sorry to customers who have been impacted by any service outage.”