Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland users complaining about recent app glitch being paid £40 each in compensation – what you need to know

On Thursday 12 March, a botched app update meant that up to 447,936 of the banks' customers were shown other users' transactions by mistake (or had their own transactions shown to others). In addition, up to 114,182 of those customers then clicked into these rogue transactions, which may have exposed additional details including sort codes, account numbers, National Insurance numbers and more.

Lloyds Banking Group, which owns all three brands, says the glitch only affected current accounts, and balances were not impacted, adding that it had so far not detected any fraud or financial losses due to the error.

The banks have paid out a combined £139,000 so far

In a letter to the Treasury Committee published on Friday 27 March, the Group confirmed that it has so far paid out "just over £139,000" in "goodwill payments" to some 3,625 customers – about £40 each on average.

It explained that these payments were being made on a case-by-case basis in line with its existing policies for "distress and inconvenience", where there has been a "direct impact on an individual". It added that it was "continuing to respond to enquiries", and that it would "address any claims for financial loss and associated compensation promptly".

Since the glitch, we've spotted several reports on social media from people who say they were offered a payment after contacting their bank, for example:

• One person said (in response to a Facebook post about the issue from MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis): "Lloyds app, [saw] someone else's transactions going back by a month. Took screenshots. A lot of transactions were private transfers so able to see names. Offered £40 apology from Lloyds when I reported it to them."

• Another said: "I've raised a query with them as my husband could view some of my transactions; we don't have a joint account. I was paid £40 compensation. They said their IT department had put a fix in."

• Yet another said: "I could see transactions and click on them to see account numbers and other personal information. It happened multiple times with different accounts showing. They offered me £25 for the upset!"

• And another added: "I got £50 compensation within one hour of reporting it with Lloyds."

How to complain if you were affected

Lloyds Banking Group says that anyone who may have viewed other people's transactions or had their transactions incorrectly seen by others will be alerted to this in their app, starting on Tuesday 24 March.

If you faced distress, inconvenience or financial loss due to the issue, and you want to try claiming compensation, you have a few options:

1. The first step is to contact Lloyds, Halifax or Bank of Scotland directly. You'll need to explain the impact the error had on you – for example, were you unable to complete your normal day-to-day banking tasks? Were you worried or concerned about your data being exposed? If you suffered any financial loss as a result of the problems, include any evidence of this.

2. If that doesn't get you anywhere, you could raise a formal complaint. You can see Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland's websites for step-by-step help with this.

3. As a last resort, you can take your case to the free, independent Financial Ombudsman Service. If your bank doesn't respond to your complaint within eight weeks, or you're unhappy with its decision, you can then take your case to the Financial Ombudsman.

If you are offered compensation and you accept it, Lloyds will consider your case to be resolved under its usual policies – but this "does not affect" your normal consumer rights, the Group says.

Whether it's worth complaining is up to you, and your decision will of course depend on your own feelings about the situation. Below, Martin shares some of his thoughts:

Still worried about your data? What to try next

If you're still concerned, here are some other things you can try:

• Look out for suspicious activity on your accounts. If you spot any unusual transactions, contact your bank straight away.

• Consider changing your banking passwords and using a password manager. Don't reuse passwords across multiple sites – you can use the password tools built into web browsers, such as Google Chrome and Safari, to help you create strong, unique passwords.

• Important: Be extremely wary of any texts, calls or emails claiming to be from your bank. Fraudsters often use what's in the news as an opportunity to steal your personal information. If in doubt, NEVER click links in messages or emails – instead, independently find your bank's contact details and contact it directly.

• You can also complain to the ICO – though it's already confirmed it's aware of this incident. The ICO can't award individual financial compensation, but can take widespread regulatory action if it finds a firm has breached data protection rules. You can find detailed guidance on how to make a complaint to the ICO on its website.

Treasury Committee: It's an 'alarming breach of confidentiality'

The Chair of the Treasury Committee, which scrutinises the spending, policies and administration of HM Treasury and its associated bodies, wrote to Lloyds Banking Group on Tuesday 17 March, seeking clarity on exactly what happened. In the letter, Dame Meg Hillier said the incident appeared to be an "alarming breach of confidentiality".

After the Group responded with the requested information on Tuesday 24 March, Dame Hillier said: "By moving more interactions with our bank online, we place our faith in technology which can suffer unpredictable errors. It's critical that consumers understand this, and that's why my Committee continues to push banks to be transparent when things go wrong."

Lloyds Banking Group will have to provide another update to the Committee in a month's time, plus a further update six months after that.

What happened on the day of the problem

Here's how events played out on Thursday 12 March:

• Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers started to report seeing other people's transactions in their banking apps. Worryingly, some said the transactions appeared to reveal personal information, such as wage payments, payments made to schools and benefit payments.

• Thousands then responded to social media posts about the issue from Martin – suggesting a widespread problem. Martin asked his followers on Facebook and on X to share their experiences, and received over 3,000 responses by 1pm.

• The banks appeared to confirm that some customers HAD been incorrectly shown other people's information. Posts we saw from the verified accounts of Halifax and Bank of Scotland on X (and the unverified Lloyds Bank account) stated:
  
  "This morning we incorrectly showed transaction information from some accounts to other customers in Internet Banking and the mobile app. We're sorry this happened. This issue was quickly identified and resolved.
  
  "We can assure you that nobody had access to your accounts. We're currently reviewing what happened to ensure this cannot occur again."
  
  Officially, Lloyds Bank Group told us that some customers "experienced an issue viewing transactions" and that the issue was "quickly resolved".

'I could see multiple transactions; wages, payments to schools and full names'

Here are just a handful of the comments we saw on social media on Thursday 12 March from concerned users: