Virgin Money outages: history, compensation and how to check if Virgin Money is down

We found four Virgin Money outages since 2018, including two under the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank names. The one that kept money out of accounts longest was a Bacs file error on 3 January 2020 that held back wages for Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money customers until accounts were updated overnight.

Is Virgin Money down right now?

This page is a record, not a live monitor, so it cannot tell you whether Virgin Money is working this minute. Virgin Money's own service status page is the place to check. Virgin Money posts known problems on its service status page, which covers credit card services and carries current account notices, and on X as @VirginMoney. Older accounts from Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank are now Virgin Money accounts.

During an outage your money stays in your account: outages stop you reaching it or paying with it, they do not remove it. The Financial Ombudsman Service lists scams that exploit outages among the complaints it sees, so be wary of calls or messages offering help during one.

Major Virgin Money outages

2 September 2024: App and internet banking problem

On the morning of Monday 2 September 2024 some Virgin Money customers could not view their transactions in the mobile app or internet banking. Virgin Money said: "We're aware that some customers are having issues with our mobile banking app and internet banking service this morning with customers not being able to view their transactions... we're investigating". No cause was given.

28 June 2024: Payday Faster Payments problem

On Friday 28 June 2024, a payday, Virgin Money's app and online banking worked only on and off from the early hours, and payments in and out were delayed. The cause was a problem with the Faster Payments service, which also hit customers of other banks, including Nationwide, HSBC and Barclays. Pay UK said "a small number of Faster Payments were delayed or not processed earlier today. Working with our infrastructure provider, this technical issue has been fixed". Virgin Money said on X it was "aware of intermittent issues with accessing online banking and our app" and was "working hard to process the backlog of payments". App access was back the same day, but a backlog of payments remained.

3 January 2020: Bacs payments error

On Friday 3 January 2020 wages and other Bacs payments did not reach the accounts of Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money customers. The bank blamed "an incorrect posting date on one of the banking group's Bacs files". On 4 January it said "all accounts were updated overnight" and "We are sorry for any issues or concern this incident caused". It said customers "will not be negatively impacted financially" and that it would "make good on any charges automatically generated".

1 November 2018: Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank outage

From about 08:30 GMT on 1 November 2018 Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank customers, whose current accounts are now Virgin Money accounts, could not log in to mobile, telephone or internet banking. Some saw transactions missing and payments rebound. Branches and cash machines kept working. The owner, CYBG, called it "an internal issue".

Incidents Virgin Money reported to the FCA

Since August 2018 every bank or brand with at least 70,000 personal current accounts, or 15,000 business current accounts, must publish each quarter how many major operational or security incidents it reported to the FCA: the total, and how many hit telephone, mobile and internet banking, for the latest quarter and the latest 12 months.

Has Virgin Money paid compensation for outages?

After the 3 January 2020 Bacs error the bank said it would "make good on any charges automatically generated" and that "Any customers impacted financially will be put right as soon as possible". We found no published Virgin Money policy on outage compensation.

Has Virgin Money been fined for IT failures?

We found no FCA or PRA fine against Virgin Money, Clydesdale Bank or Yorkshire Bank for an IT or operational-resilience failure since 2018.

Your rights if an outage costs you money

No law sets a fixed amount of compensation for a bank outage. What you are owed depends on what it cost you, and banks decide most cases themselves.

If a payment you made fails or goes wrong, your bank must refund it without undue delay and put your account back as it would have been, and it is liable for any charges and interest you have to pay as a result. It is not liable if the failure was caused by abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances beyond its control that could not have been avoided.

The Financial Ombudsman Service says that when it upholds an outage complaint it can tell the bank to refund extra costs caused by the outage, such as overdraft or late-payment charges, and to pay for distress and inconvenience. In one case it published, a bank offered £25 after a multi-day outage and the Ombudsman told it to pay a further £75.

Complain to the bank first. For a complaint about a payment it must reply in full within 15 business days, or 35 in exceptional cases; for other complaints within eight weeks. You then have six months from its final response to take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge.

Frequently asked questions

Is Virgin Money down today?

This page records past outages and cannot show Virgin Money's status this minute. Virgin Money publishes live status at https://support.virginmoney.com/subtopic/pagecontent/article/KA-01911/. Virgin Money posts known problems on its service status page, which covers credit card services and carries current account notices, and on X as @VirginMoney. Older accounts from Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank are now Virgin Money accounts.

How often does Virgin Money have outages?

We found four Virgin Money outages since 2018, including two under the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank names. The one that kept money out of accounts longest was a Bacs file error on 3 January 2020 that held back wages for Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money customers until accounts were updated overnight. In its latest published figures Virgin Money reported 3 major operational or security incidents to the FCA in the 12 months to 30 June 2026.

When was the last big Virgin Money outage?

2 September 2024: On the morning of Monday 2 September 2024 some Virgin Money customers could not view their transactions in the mobile app or internet banking. Virgin Money said: "We're aware that some customers are having issues with our mobile banking app and internet banking service this morning with customers not being able to view their transactions... we're investigating". No cause was given.

Will Virgin Money compensate me for an outage?

After the 3 January 2020 Bacs error the bank said it would "make good on any charges automatically generated" and that "Any customers impacted financially will be put right as soon as possible". We found no published Virgin Money policy on outage compensation. If a payment failed or went wrong, your bank must refund it and is liable for the charges and interest that result. Beyond that there is no fixed amount: complain to the bank, and if you are unhappy with its answer the Financial Ombudsman Service can order it to refund costs and pay for distress and inconvenience.

How do I complain about a Virgin Money outage?

Complain to the bank first and keep evidence of any costs, such as late-payment or overdraft charges. It has 15 business days to answer a complaint about a payment and eight weeks for others. You then have six months to take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free.

More: Virgin Money's credit rating and safety record, outage figures for every UK bank, and outage histories for Nationwide, Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Chase UK, first direct, Halifax, HSBC UK, Lloyds Bank.