Uxbridge family left "homeless" due to Barclays IT issue
The bank has now confirmed it has fixed the technical issue
Last updated 2nd Feb 2025
A civil servant and her family from Uxbridge have been left "homeless" due to issues affecting Barclays customers which have meant they couldn't make payments.
Paola Mereu, 39, sold the house her and her husband and their two daughters, aged one and seven, lived in at Uxbridge and were meant to buy their new home in West Sussex on Friday.
However, a major IT glitch which has hit Barclays has seen customers unable to make payments or access their accounts, including Mrs Mereu.
In an update this morning Barclays confirmed they have now managed to fix the issue.
The bank's apologised - and says it'll ensure no customers are left out of pocket.
It's insisted a technical glitch was to blame - and not a cyber attack or malicious activity.
Mrs Mereu told the PA news agency: "We drove down to (West Sussex on Friday) and we had all our things in a moving van and were waiting outside and unfortunately, around one o'clock, my solicitor calls and says Barclays is having some issues and we are unable to complete the sale.
"So we sold our house - we had the money from that - but we were unable to complete the other part of the sale so we are essentially homeless.
"We waited until five o'clock, Barclays still didn't fix it, so we literally have no house and it is still not fixed."
The family are currently staying with Mrs Mereu's mother in London and the moving van with all their belongings is on her driveway.
She said she is currently in limbo about what to do next.
"I am not sure if we will incur extra costs from the people we are buying from because we did not fulfil our part of the contract as the money was meant to go though on Friday," she added.
"It's crazy, we are hoping the issues are resolved by Monday.
"It took us so long to get this dream house and yesterday was meant to be the happiest day of our lives and instead we ended up homeless.
"I feel like I am in a TV series episode."
The bank received some backlash for suggesting people affected reach out to family and foodbanks for help as customers face a third day of issues.