Published by Charleston Voice, 05.21.12

...Fury rages, could this affliction go viral worldwide from the UK?

HSBC customers were left unable to take out money or make card payments after a computer breakdown at the bank.

Problems: HSBC

They were left angry and embarrassed as a failure in the London-based lender’s payment system led to cards being automatically rejected.

Customers bombarded the company with complaints and demands for compensation or refunds after being told they could only pay by cash.

London student Perry Kennedy posted on Twitter: ‘Nothing like trying to pay for the petrol you’ve just put in your car to have your card declined. F*** you HSBC.

Michael Le Silk, from Nottingham, said: ‘I felt like a right prat when I couldn’t pay for petrol. I had to wait for someone to come and lend me some money to pay for it!’ A poster named @Dannyboy31, from London, tweeted: ‘HSBC bank seriously embarrassed me this evening.

‘Card got declined when paying for our meal. Some sort of worldwide visa issue.’

The bank’s systems were working again shortly after 7pm. The company tweeted: ‘Sorry for the inconvenience. Please call customer services if you need further help.’

HSBC is the second largest banking group in the world but it has cut costs by £741million in the past year by cutting jobs worldwide.

The lender, which has 52,000 staff in Britain, has axed 14,000 posts since the first three months of 2011 in an attempt to slim its workforce by ten per cent by 2013.

But pre-tax profits for first three months of the year were £2.66billion – a 30 per cent increase on the previous quarter. Source