Just in case anyone has had problems today and couldn't get through to the bank, I thought I'd let people know.
At around 4pm today, ALL of our switch systems went down. Basically, this means that no messages were getting through to request authorisation, and every transaction on a Natwest or RBS maestro card was declined. I believe there was also a problem with Mastercards, however I haven't been able to talk to our credit cards department all day. The only place any of our cards were working was in UK ATMs. It would appear that foreign ATMs work on the switch systems, so they were all declined too.
We were told that it would be fixed by 6pm, and the crazy flood of calls seemed to stop around then, although that could just be because shops were closing so fewer people were actually using their cards.
I believe that customer services have been even more swamped than us, and their queue time was getting into 30mins+ for some customers. Until recently, none of my collegues got through to lost and stolen credit cards as they were also swamped with Mastercard problems. Anyone who has tried to call them to cancel cards and failed earlier should be able to at least get into a queue now - when I tried around 5pm they were so busy that it disconnected or just gave a busy signal.
My department (lost and stolen debit cards) hasn't been as bad as some, with our wait time maxing at about 2 minutes, however the same goes to try again for anyone who struggled to get to us earlier. Our main number is 08706 000 459, option 2, if anyone has been trying to call customer services to contact us.
If anyone needs to contact customer services for anything that isn't totally urgent, I'd recommend leaving it for now, and give them at least a couple of hours to deal with the back-log of work they've had.
If anyone has been unable to use their switch cards between 4pm and 6pm today, don't panic, and don't be in a rush to phone the bank! As far as I am aware, there have been no problems with ATMs so they can be still be used to check balances if you're really worried.
I would guess that branches will be flooded with this on Monday morning, so again, if you need anything from a branch on Monday, be prepared to wait a while to be dealt with, or wait until later in the day.
Transactions attempted while the systems have been down won't show as declined anywhere, as they have been declined due to the request not even getting to the bank.
I hope this is helpful to at least a few people on here. Our support team have been dealing with this the best they can, and unfortunately these things happen and some customers have been caught out badly by this. If you know anyone who has had problems either calling Natwest/RBS today or using their card today, please let them know not to panic and as far as calls go, it should now be possible to get through.
Vixen x
At around 4pm today, ALL of our switch systems went down. Basically, this means that no messages were getting through to request authorisation, and every transaction on a Natwest or RBS maestro card was declined. I believe there was also a problem with Mastercards, however I haven't been able to talk to our credit cards department all day. The only place any of our cards were working was in UK ATMs. It would appear that foreign ATMs work on the switch systems, so they were all declined too.
We were told that it would be fixed by 6pm, and the crazy flood of calls seemed to stop around then, although that could just be because shops were closing so fewer people were actually using their cards.
I believe that customer services have been even more swamped than us, and their queue time was getting into 30mins+ for some customers. Until recently, none of my collegues got through to lost and stolen credit cards as they were also swamped with Mastercard problems. Anyone who has tried to call them to cancel cards and failed earlier should be able to at least get into a queue now - when I tried around 5pm they were so busy that it disconnected or just gave a busy signal.
My department (lost and stolen debit cards) hasn't been as bad as some, with our wait time maxing at about 2 minutes, however the same goes to try again for anyone who struggled to get to us earlier. Our main number is 08706 000 459, option 2, if anyone has been trying to call customer services to contact us.
If anyone needs to contact customer services for anything that isn't totally urgent, I'd recommend leaving it for now, and give them at least a couple of hours to deal with the back-log of work they've had.
If anyone has been unable to use their switch cards between 4pm and 6pm today, don't panic, and don't be in a rush to phone the bank! As far as I am aware, there have been no problems with ATMs so they can be still be used to check balances if you're really worried.
I would guess that branches will be flooded with this on Monday morning, so again, if you need anything from a branch on Monday, be prepared to wait a while to be dealt with, or wait until later in the day.
Transactions attempted while the systems have been down won't show as declined anywhere, as they have been declined due to the request not even getting to the bank.
I hope this is helpful to at least a few people on here. Our support team have been dealing with this the best they can, and unfortunately these things happen and some customers have been caught out badly by this. If you know anyone who has had problems either calling Natwest/RBS today or using their card today, please let them know not to panic and as far as calls go, it should now be possible to get through.
Vixen x
Fortunately my card worked...
been happening since 8am at my place 
. Digital banking help desk is next to Direct Banking isn't it? If you read my full post you'll get my department 
.