Payment chaos after customers across Europe suffer Visa card network outage
CONSUMERS trying to make payments using Visa debit and credit cards were hit by a severe service disruption.
The network outage hit on the eve of the bank holiday weekend, one of the busiest for pubs and shops.
It affected both chip and pin transactions and contactless payments.
Massive queues formed at bank cash machines across the country as consumers tried to get cash out of their accounts.
The issue meant shoppers in this country and across Europe had their Visa debit and credit cards refused at payment desks.
People ended up having to leave groceries at checkout counters when their cards were refused and they did not have the money to pay in cash.
Some customers reported that they had been charged twice for a transaction on Visa.
A Visa spokesperson said the payment processing company was experiencing a service disruption across Europe.
The issue was resolved just before 11pm last night and Visa was working to clear the backlog.
“Our goal is to ensure all Visa cards work reliably 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We fell well short of this goal today and we apologise to all of our partners, and most especially, to Visa cardholders,” the representative said.
The representative added that the issue was the result of a “hardware failure”.
“We have no reason to believe this was associated with any unauthorised access or malicious event,” they added.
Banks apologised for the disruption, which remained in place over a number of hours. Most banks said that customers could withdraw cash at the bank’s own ATM.
Permanent TSB reported people were only able to successfully use electronic payment cards at point-of-sale outlets intermittently. AIB said it was aware of intermittent issues with AIB cards.
AIB said its cardholders can continue to withdraw cash from AIB ATMs using their AIB Visa card without impact, and its Mastercard credit cards are also unaffected by the issue.
Ulster Bank said the outage was an industry-wide problem, and not an issue with the bank. The bank has had a number of payment problems with its systems in the past.
Bank of Ireland has said it is aware of an issue with Visa debit cards, and that account holders can make cash withdrawals at any Bank of Ireland ATM.
The issue appears to have hit Visa debit cards and credit cards, and the contactless cards.
However, some consumers reported that they were able to make payments using their cards.