Santander customers hit by payment delays - here's what you need to know

The issue started in the early hours of Wednesday morning, impacting customers making or receiving so-called "faster payments" that enable you to send up to £10,000 to another bank account within two hours. Santander has 14 million UK customers. 

The issue is now resolved and the bank has apologised for any inconvenience caused. 

We've full info on how to complain and how to get a refund of any fees charged as a result below, but if you're unhappy about the outage and are thinking of switching, you can also check out our Best bank accounts guide. 

Santander says it will reimburse any late payment fees or charges

Santander said that no customer will be left out of pocket as a result of the delays, for example if you were pushed into the red because you were waiting for money to come through and a payment was taken. We're checking to see whether refunds will be automatic for fees charged by Santander itself, or if you'll need to apply, and we will update this story when we know more. 

If you've been hit with fees or charges by another company as a result of the payment delays, you will need to contact Santander. It says it will reimburse you for these as long as you can prove it was as a result of today's problem (for example, by showing correspondence of the late payment fee).

In the meantime, it's best to keep an eye on your account and keep hold of any evidence of charges. That way you can make an official complaint if you need to ask to be put back into the position you would have been in if it wasn't for the payment delays.

If Santander doesn't respond within eight weeks or you're unhappy with the response you do get, you can take your complaint to free independent arbitrator, the Financial Ombudsman Service. See our Financial Rights guide for more info on how to complain. 

'We can't pay our employees, this is urgent!'

Here's a selection of some of the tweets we've seen about the problems on social media: