Lloyds Bank App Glitch Exposes Other Customers’ Transactions

Customers using the mobile banking apps of Lloyds Bank, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland were left shocked on Thursday. A technical error briefly allowed them to view financial transactions belonging to other users.

The glitch affected digital services operated by Lloyds Banking Group, which owns all three banks. Some customers reported seeing unfamiliar payments in their account activity. Others noticed unexpected deposits. These incidents raised concerns about the security of personal financial data.

Customers report seeing strangers’ transactions

Users across the UK said they noticed payments in their mobile banking apps that did not belong to them. The error meant some customers can view charges, transfers and account references linked to other people.

One Halifax customer said she discovered numerous unfamiliar transactions in her account history. These transactions appeared to total more than £1 million.

Lloyds Banking Group apologised for the incident and said the issue had been identified and resolved quickly. The company added that a review would be carried out to determine what caused the problem.

The bank has not confirmed how many people may have been affected.

Personal details briefly visible

A woman from Kirkcaldy in Fife told reporters. She was able to see financial activity connected to six different accounts through the Bank of Scotland app. During a period of about twenty minutes, she said the app displayed payment references including National Insurance numbers.

Some of the transactions appeared to relate to benefit payments issued by the Department for Work and Pensions. In these cases, National Insurance numbers are sometimes used as payment references.

Customers describe panic and confusion

Many customers said they initially feared their accounts had been hacked or that fraud was taking place.

Helen Jermy, who holds two accounts with Halifax, said she noticed several unexpected payments including transfers worth £800,000 and £271,000.

“At one point my account looked like it had more than a million pounds paid into it,” she said.

Stephanie Flynn is a Bank of Scotland customer in Aberdeen. She said she felt alarmed on Thursday morning. She saw a list of unfamiliar payments totalling around £25,000 when she opened her banking app.

“I didn’t recognise any of them and had no idea what was happening,” she said, describing the experience as frightening.

Lloyds customer Carl Lewis also reported seeing transactions that were not linked to his account. He said the app appeared to show a complete account history. It included direct debit payments to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. These payments included vehicle registration references.

Another Lloyds user, Sam Harris, said he noticed nearly £3,000 credited to his account early in the morning. He also saw details about where the payment had come from. He said the situation left him worried that his own banking information can also have been visible to other customers.

One customer was identified as Asha. She said the experience caused panic. She saw unfamiliar purchases in the app. These purchases appeared to match the balance in her own account.

“I thought someone had hacked my account,” she said, adding that the incident was extremely distressing.

Bank confirms system error

In statements posted to customers on social media, Lloyds Banking Group acknowledged a technical error. This error had caused transaction details from some accounts to in other customers’ online banking and mobile apps.

The bank said the problem was identified quickly and corrected.

Monitoring website Downdetector recorded a spike in reports of problems affecting the Halifax and Lloyds apps. This occurred between 07:00 and 09:00 GMT. A smaller number of reports were linked to the Bank of Scotland app.

Previous banking app outages

The incident follows other technical disruptions affecting UK banking apps in recent years. In early 2025, widespread outages on payday prevented customers from accessing accounts or making payments across several banking platforms.

Around 700,000 customers of Lloyds Banking Group were among those affected by the earlier outages. The bank’s chief operating officer mentioned this in a letter to the chair of the Commons Treasury Committee.

However, those incidents prevented customers from viewing their own transactions. In contrast, the latest glitch involved the temporary display of financial activity. This activity belonged to other users.

Experts call incident unusual

Markos Zachariadis, professor of financial technology and information systems at the University of Manchester, described the event as unusual.

He suggested that increasingly complex digital banking systems occasionally create unexpected technical issues.

“Financial platforms are becoming more interconnected. Data sharing is becoming more sophisticated. As a result, the architecture behind them is becoming more complex,” he said.

Regulators monitoring situation

The Information Commissioner’s Office said it was aware of the incident and would be making enquiries.

Meanwhile the Financial Conduct Authority confirmed it was in contact with Lloyds Banking Group. It aimed to understand what had happened. It also wanted to know how the bank was addressing the issue.

Regulators emphasised that financial institutions must protect customer data and ensure systems are able to recover quickly from technical disruptions.

Bank reassures customers

Lloyds Banking Group said no one had been able to access other customers’ accounts directly. They insisted that account security remained intact.

The company said it is reviewing the incident. It aims to ensure similar errors do not happen again. It also emphasized that protecting customer information remains a top priority.