Bank of Ireland glitch allows customers to access free money | World News

The Bank of Ireland has apologised after a ‘technical issue’ allowed some of its customers with no money to access up to €1,000.

The bank has vowed that customers who took money out of their accounts where there were no funds will show up as a debit, and essentially be treated as an unauthorised overdraft.

The bank’s mobile app and 365online which was also plagued with issues yesterday is now working again.

The issue prompted huge queues across Ireland at ATM machines last night, with people mistakenly believing they were being given free cash.

The Garda Siochana said it was aware of an ‘unusual volume of activity’ at some ATMs across the country.

People have been prompted to get in touch with the bank if they find themselves in financial difficulty following the issue.

In a statement this morning the bank said: ‘Yesterday a technical issue impacted a number of Bank of Ireland’s services.

‘Our teams restored these services overnight and all services are available to customers this morning. Overnight payments to accounts may appear throughout the day.

‘We are aware that the technical issue meant some customers were able to withdraw or transfer funds above their normal limits.

‘These transfers and withdrawals will be applied to customers’ accounts today. We urge any customer who may find themselves in financial difficulty due to overdrawing on their account to contact us.

‘We sincerely apologise for the disruption this outage caused – we know we fell far below the standards our customers expect from us.’

A spokesperson for banking technology firm Revolut confirmed it was ‘looking into’ claims excess money had been transferred into customer’s accounts from Bank of Ireland.

The spokesperson for the Bank of Ireland added: ‘We would like to remind customers that if they transfer or withdraw funds – including over their normal limits – this money will be debited from their account.

‘While we are conscious customers may not be able to check their balance at this time, they should not withdraw or transfer funds if they are likely to become overdrawn.’

While issues with the app and 365online have now been resolved, yesterday customers reported issues like being unable to connect to the website.

They also reported having no access to their accounts for hours and being unable to transfer money for ‘important payments’.

Some customers also had problems withdrawing cash from ATMS.

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