Nationwide Building Society has responded following concerns raised by customers who found themselves unable to access account information online. Two individuals reached out via social media after noticing that their mortgages were not visible.
One customer reported on January 15 at around 9am: “My mortgage account has disappeared from my online banking and banking app. It was there about an hour ago.” They added: “Went to check something again and it’s now gone. No trace of it. Is there a glitch or is Nationwide doing some kind of update?”
Another echoed similar difficulties. Nationwide’s website advises you can use the ‘Mortgage Manager’ function in the app or Internet bank to check your mortgage account. The guidance explains: “If you need to make changes, and you don’t need our advice, you can make changes to your mortgage yourself.”
Later, four hours after the initial report, Nationwide addressed the issue, stating: “Thank you for your message. Accounts were temporarily not visible online, however this has now been resolved.”
The customers confirmed that they could once again view their accounts, with one humorously remarking: “Had hoped they’d maybe just written it off.” A Nationwide spokesperson said: “Some customers were unable to view their mortgage accounts on the Internet Bank and Banking app for a very short period of time earlier this morning.
“No other accounts were affected. This has now been resolved, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.” The issue comes after the building society recently clarified its policies after feedback from a dissatisfied customer. The customer questioned Nationwide after being blocked from depositing a modest sum on behalf of their disabled son.
They asked: “I would be grateful if you could explain why branch staff say we cannot bank a small amount of cash (less than £100 Xmas money) on behalf of our disabled adult son.” The unhappy customer said that staff insisted his son “has to present his card in person”, citing anti-money laundering regulations as the reason.
Nationwide’s response was firm: “We will only be able to accept cash deposit from the account holder themselves. If your son needs assistance managing their accounts, you can look at setting up a power of attorney via your local branch.”
The customer pressed further for an explanation on the policy, to which Nationwide answered: “I can confirm that the branch were correct, and that this will be due to money laundering regulations.” Nationwide’s online policy statement firmly underlines a ‘no tolerance’ stance on high-risk money laundering activities, indicating vigilant monitoring and strict consequences.
The guidance states: “We monitor payments and transactions, and where necessary we will stop payments, close accounts and relationships where activity is suspicious or cannot be appropriately explained. Potential relationships will be declined, and existing relationships terminated (where lawful to do so), where the level of economic crime risk is outside of our risk appetite.”