HUNDREDS of Halifax and Lloyds Bank customers had issues accessing their accounts after the banks' online services went down.

According to complaints tracking website Downdetector, customers were struggling to get online around lunchtime today.

However, Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed to The Sun that services are back up and running again as usual.

Nearly 330 Lloyds Bank customers reported crashes, with nearly 400 Halifax customers complaining of problems too.

Most of the issues reported were due to problems with online banking and mobile banking services.

Affected areas seem to be around Norwich, London and Birmingham.

Angry customers took to Twitter to complain.

One user said: "Lloyds and Halifax apps both down"

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Another asked: "Anyone else's Lloyds bank app down"

Another customer tweeted: "I'm seeing lots of reports on "Down Detector" for Halifax at the moment.

"I've tried on mobile phone with and without Wi-Fi as well as wired Ethernet on a Windows computer. I think you do have a problem."

The two banks are owned by Lloyds Banking Group which also owns the Bank of Scotland, with a collective 18 million customers in the UK.

Bank of Scotland did appear to have run into technical problems according to Downdetector.

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: "Online banking is now back to normal. We're sorry some of our customers had issues for a brief period today.”

Lloyds Bank and Halifax aren't the only banks that have run into problems recently with online services.

Natwest went down last week, leaving customers unable to use the website or app.

While last month, Santander went down leaving hundreds of customers struggling to see their account balances.

How can I check if Lloyds Bank, Halifax or Bank of Scotland are down?

Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland all have dedicated pages on their websites, which show if any services are affected including internet banking, the mobile apps, ATMs, debit cards and credit cards.

You can also check on any future work they have planned and what it might mean for you.

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Plus, you can check websites such as Down Detector, which will tell you whether other people are experiencing problems with a particular company online.

Can I claim compensation for outages?

Unlike telecoms companies, banks do not have a fixed compensation scheme for service disruption, although depending on how much it has affected you, you may be entitled to some money back.

It is worth gathering evidence of your problems so you can make a formal complaint to the bank directly.

Try to make a note of when you were unable to access the website or app, plus any costs you incurred as a result.

If your credit rating has been affected by a service outage, because you got a late payment fee after being unable to make a transaction, for example, you should also keep a record of this.

If you spoke to anyone to try and resolve the problem, make a note of their name and when you spoke to them, as well as roughly what you discussed and what they advised you to do.

You can find out more details about how to complain to Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland on their websites.

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