Fidelity Bank Outage Leaves Customers Stranded For Over 1 Week

Millions of customers of Fidelity Bank Plc have been stranded and not being able to access their funds for more than a week as the bank said it is undergoing system maintenance after customers complained of challenges across all its banking channels.

Customers of the bank who had taken to social media to register their complaints said they had been unable to access their funds through any of the channels or within the banking halls since last week.

LEADERSHIP findings also revealed that the customers are unable to make transfers via their mobile applications or make use of their debit cards. Within the banking halls visited, bank staff were helpless as they could not execute transfers or pay cash over the counter to customers.

Similarly, the ATMs of the banks were not paying. A customer, who was too distraught to identify himself, lamented that despite having funds in his account, he has been unable to settle his child’s medical bills. “How do they expect us to survive without access to our own money?”

An X user lamented that “it has been over seven days now and I cannot access my account via online or code.” The bank had not issued any notice to its customers prior to the disruption of service last week, leaving many customers stranded.

On Monday, the bank had sent an email  to customers, apologising for the service disruption, adding that it was working to fix it. The email had read “we sincerely apologise for the challenges you are experiencing while using our banking channels.

“We are working hard to resolve the issue and will provide you with an update as soon as normal service has been restored. We thank you for your understanding and assure you of our continued commitment to serving you.”

However, two days after the first email, customers are yet to get a respite or access their accounts with the bank. This had prompted the bank to send out another message to its customers via email and the social media platforms stating that due to the disruption of service, it had to embark on system maintenance.

“Following a recent service disruption we experienced on our banking channels, we have had to carry out a system maintenance exercise. We understand that this exercise has led to difficulties in transacting on your account in the last few days and we apologise deeply for this.

“The ongoing maintenance exercise is needed to help us to improve the performance of our banking channels and enhance our service delivery. We solicit your understanding during this period and wish to assure you that we are working hard to conclude the exercise as soon as possible.”

Last year, millions of bank customers had been stranded after three banks embarked on system upgrades, leaving customers without access to their accounts for days.