5,000 customers applying for National Australia Bank compensation

The claims seek to recover any third-party costs customers face from online transactions following technical failure.

At least 5000 National Australia Bank customers have applied for compensation from the bank following the technical failure that locked customers out of their accounts, leaving them unable to pay bills and access cash.

The bank said the customers used an online form to receive payment for costs spurred by the technical failure which began on Wednesday morning and prevented payments for millions of customers from employers and benefits providers like Centrelink.

The claims seek to recover any third-party costs customers face from utility companies, lenders, other banks or service providers because their accounts were unexpectedly emptied or made inaccessible. Customers can register their request for compensation on the bank's website.

The bank was already in the process of reversing any fees on its customers applied directly by the bank.

“We will proactively undertake this work over the coming weeks, without the need for customers to contact or notify us,” the bank said on its website.

NAB on Tuesday said the problem, which prompted the bank to go on a media blitz and open up 170 branches over the weekend to provide customers access to accounts, had largely been resolved, although isolated cases where people still were not able to access their funds remained.

View the full story in The Sydney Morning Herald.