Halifax and Lloyds online banking payments down: Customers experiencing problem transferring money

A closed branch of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) is pictured in Birkenhead in north-west England, on October 15, 2008 (PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Halifax and Lloyds customers are being hit by major problems when they try to move their money.

Both banks report issues with their online banking services.

The problems appear to be with the faster payments system that is used across the UK to allow for quicker transfers.

Both banks wrote identical messages on their Twitter feeds to alert users to the issues.

"We are currently experiencing difficulties with Faster Payments and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause," they wrote. "We are working to fix this and will update you as soon as we can."

When customers attempt to make payments, they are shown a message saying that the transfer has failed to complete.

The faster payments system is intended to make payments go through straight away, rather than waiting days for them to clear, though it can take up to two hours.

It is used across the UK banking industry to improve the payments. Lloyds claimed the issue was affecting the entire system, though customers with other banks reported less of the issues.