Lloyds Bank has clarified its rules after concerns about the possibility of payments being taken twice from customer accounts. This comes after the bank was hit separately by a major glitch where customers could see other people’s transactions.

A person contacted the bank over social media after they noticed an issue with their account. Writing on March 19, they said there had been a “double” direct debit payment taken from their account.

The customer said the first amount had gone out on March 17 when it was supposed to go out, but then a second payment went out the next day, on March 18. The confused customer said: “This has never happened to myself before.”

In response, Lloyds said: “I’m sorry a double direct debit was taken – that shouldn’t happen.” Guidance on the Lloyds website explains that if you are using the app and you want to dispute a payment from your account, you can do so by finding the transaction and selecting ‘Help with this transaction’. When you do so, instructions will appear on the screen to guide you through the process.

Please message us

In their response to the customer, Lloyds suggested one potential reason for the discrepancy. The savings giant said: “Sometimes a payment can retry the next day if the first attempt didn’t fully go through.

“Please message us through the mobile banking app, so we can check both payments and sort this for you.” Meanwhile, the bank was hit by a troubling online error recently where app users could see other people’s account details, including their balance and transactions.

Lloyds said in an update posted on social media after the incident: “On 12 March, a limited number of customers using our app may have briefly seen transactions that weren’t theirs due to an internal IT change.

“We’re very sorry this happened. No action is needed and there was no account security issue. We’ve identified the affected customers and will contact them to provide further information.”

Never do this

In light of the incident, tech experts at comparison site The Business Hub have urged UK bank customers to be vigilant and to take steps to keep their data safe. Andy Pickett, chief technology officer, said: “While it hasn’t officially been confirmed as a breach yet, it likely will be.

“This is quite an unusual situation at this scale for a bank. While identity fraud and cyber attacks typically come from external sources, banks are usually very methodical in their app and online platform development.”

Mr Pickett pointed out one thing you should never do: “You should never continue a phone conversation if contacted directly by a bank or lender. Instead, you should hang up and call back using the official number listed on the bank’s website.

“AI-driven phone calls, video impersonation, and voice cloning are the latest wave of attacks, so it’s critical that people stay informed and share knowledge of these threats.”