Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Bank of Scotland plc trading as Halifax

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M complained that a technical glitch in Halifax's mobile banking app on 12 March 2026 allowed some customers to view others' transactions, causing him distress and anxiety that exacerbated his mental health issues. Mr M discovered the glitch on 27 March while on holiday and contacted Halifax on 3 April, when he was reassured his account was secure. The ombudsman found that Mr M was not logged into the app during the affected timeframe and therefore his data was neither accessed by others nor did he see anyone else's data, resulting in no actual detriment to him. Although the ombudsman acknowledged Mr M's distress, it found Halifax's reassurance and apology to be sufficient, and did not uphold the complaint as Halifax had not mishandled Mr M's data and the glitch had no detrimental impact on his account.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Halifax's system suffered a technical glitch affecting some customers' data visibility, Mr M was not one of those affected customers as he was not logged into the app during the relevant timeframe. Therefore, Mr M suffered no actual detriment or financial loss, and his data was neither accessed by others nor did he see anyone else's data. Although Mr M experienced distress upon learning of the glitch, Halifax provided appropriate reassurance when contacted, and the ombudsman could not hold Halifax responsible for the impact on Mr M's mental health vulnerabilities as Halifax was unaware of these prior to the incident and it could not be determined that the incident alone caused any regression. The ombudsman noted that Mr M could have contacted Halifax sooner using the in-app chat to alleviate his concerns.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website