VISA CARDS MELTDOWN
Millions left unable to use bank cards to shop – or even get cash – in computer crash that has hit customers across Europe
MILLIONS faced bank card chaos yesterday after Visa’s network crashed across Europe.
Britons were left unable to pay for shopping or even withdraw cash after the sudden systems failure.
Customers planning their meals for the week were forced to abandon trolleys full of food at supermarkets, while others were reportedly left stranded after being unable to pay for petrol.
Some shoppers said money was taken from their accounts each time their card was declined. When they asked their bank for a refund, they were told to wait for Visa to reimburse them – a process that could take weeks.
Holidaymakers reported they were unable to use their cards abroad – meaning they could miss their flights home.
As the chaos continued into the evening long queues began to form at cash machines and post offices, with reports of some ATMs running out of notes.
The outage, which began at 2.30pm, affected online, contactless and chip and PIN payments. Some customers said their cards were working intermittently, while others had payments repeatedly declined.
In some stores, staff resorted to dusting off ‘click and clack’ card machines to process payments, while others allowed shoppers to leave without paying and return later when the problems were resolved. Many erected ‘cash only’ signs.
The meltdown is understood to have affected customers of most major banks, including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander, which all use Visa to process their debit and, in some cases, credit card payments. Customers of American Express and banks that use Mastercard to process payments were unaffected.
Despite fears the firm could have been targeted by hackers, Visa said the issue ‘has not been caused by any unauthorised access or malicious event’. It is believed to have informed the Treasury that the crisis was caused by an unspecified ‘hardware problem’.
Hundreds expressed their fury online after their payments were declined. Labour MP Angela Rayner was among those affected, tweeting: ‘First time I’ve ever left without paying for my fuel ... good job my local garage knows me.’
Emma Wilson tweeted: ‘I’ve been charged four times for my shopping, even though due to the Visa problems every transaction was cancelled (and I eventually had to pay using cash). It’s over £250 I’ve been falsely charged. When will this be refunded?’
One British holidaymaker wrote to Visa’s Twitter account, saying: ‘On holiday in Sicily. Car hire has messed up and #visadown means card declined for trains. We owe our hosts €350 and need to get to Palermo for flights. Can you help??’
Owners of the Horse and Jockey Pub in Melling, Liverpool tweeted: ‘Can’t currently take Visa ... on a sunny Friday - what a joke. We still take cash, jewellery, or help with the dishes. IOUs backed up with car keys. Come on Visa, sort yourself out.’ Train operator Great Western said ticket booths and vending machines could not accept Visa cards, while Virgin Trains also reported problems. Last night, experts warned the crisis showed banks were too reliant on technology. James Daley, of the Fairer Finance research group, said: ‘This Farce: At Sainsbury’s in Vauxhall, south London, only cash was accepted is a warning shock for what happens when technology fails.
‘As we have seen over the past few weeks, with TSB’s online system meltdown as well, our banks are too reliant on computers and there needs to be a back-up plan in place for the event of a crisis such as this.’
Professor Peter Hahn, of the London Institute of Banking and Finance, told Sky News: ‘In today’s world, with cyber risks, everyone really needs to always be carrying two means to make a payment.
‘We have a bank that we’re going to have a credit card from, stores have their banks, and Visa is really the connection between those banks. And it’s got lots of entry points that can be challenged so hopefully they’ve got the expertise to fix those systems quickly.’ Alex Neill, of the consumer watchdog Which?, said: ‘Clearly this issue will be a huge inconvenience to customers and it must be resolved urgently. Visa and the banks need to ensure no one is left out of pocket due to this outage.
‘We strongly advise people to keep any evidence of extra expenses they’ve incurred in order to claim them back.’
Asda said its technical team found there was a breakdown in the messages sent between card machines and Visa’s system to process payments. For a transaction to be successful, a message must be sent to Visa, and another authorisation message sent back.
Paymentsense, which works with more than 60,000 independent businesses across the UK and Ireland, said contactless payments had a better chance of going through.
Visa Europe was bought by American firm Visa Inc for £15billion in 2016. It had been owned by a group of banks including big High Street names such as Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland. Its boss Charlotte Hogg was appointed in October after she was forced to quit as deputy governor of the Bank of England for failing to declare a conflict of interest. Last month she said she had learned from the scandal, adding: ‘ When something bad happens and you bounce back you see the possibilities in life and that’s a wonderful place to be.’
A spokesman said: ‘ Visa is currently experiencing a service disruption. The incident is preventing some Visa transactions in Europe from being processed. We are investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation.’