Consumers have until 8pm to contact bank by phone or online after last-minute surge

Santander has extended its deadline for submitting claims for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) until 8pm after a website glitch that it blamed on a last-minute surge in complaints.

The official industry-wide deadline for making a claim passed on Thursday night and Santander was one of several banks plagued by technical problems during the final hours of the campaign.

The Financial Conduct Authority said it would expect banks that experienced technical problems in the run-up to the deadline to “treat customers fairly” and “apply a pragmatic approach”.

Santander said on its website later that “due to the high volume of customers contacting us about PPI”, it would extend its deadline. A spokesperson said it would accept complaints and inquiries made over the phone and via its online form until 8pm on Friday.

Santander had already apologised for a “brief technical issue” on Thursday morning that meant customers were unable to access its online claim form for a time.

Throughout Thursday some people continued to report on social media that they were having problems submitting their details to the bank.

NatWest and the Co-operative Bank were among the other banks that experienced technical problems, and complaints of long waiting times on the phone were common.

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Guy Anker, deputy editor of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: “While it’s good Santander has extended its deadline for PPI claims. You need to urgently take advantage of this last-minute reprieve. You don’t need to provide evidence that you were hampered by yesterday’s issues and you only need to provide basic information to start a claim with Santander.

“We know other banks had problems over the last couple of days and people said it took them a long time to make claims. If anyone has missed the deadline because of something that was the bank’s fault, we would expect any bank to show sympathy and let them put the complaint in. But you must do this urgently, and to be safe you should submit evidence to prove you tried.”

PPI is Britain’s costliest consumer scandal, with £36bn paid out by UK banks to compensate people who bought often worthless insurance cover thinking it would help them repay debts in the event of sickness or unemployment. The average payout has been about £2,000. Of the total, £340m was paid out in June alone.