Kiwibank problems prevent shopping, payments

AUCKLAND: Kiwibank customers have expressed anger and frustration over problems trying to access their accounts online to make payments and shop.

In an update posted shortly after 11am, the bank said it was having ‘‘continued intermittent issues’’ with some services including internet banking, its app, website and phone services.

Kiwibank said it was also experiencing longer waiting times for those trying to get through to its contact centre.

‘‘Please consider this if you plan to call us. We apologise for the inconvenience.’’

The bank’s Facebook page was quickly flooded with people complaining about the issues.

One woman said she could not get cash out of an ATM while another said she was unable to buy groceries.

‘‘I went to transfer money over but bank app is still down went in sat in the line at paken save [Pak’nSave] to do all shopping yet couldn’t transfer my money over terrible Kiwibank.’’

Another woman complained of not being able to get access to bank statements which she needed to send to her auditor urgently.

One man said he had tried to get through to the call centre but had been cut off six times.

‘‘I waited for over an hour on the phone to speak to someone and gave up!!! SLACK!! (after being cut off six times trying to call you!)’’

Others urged people to calm down and give the bank a chance to fix the issue.

A Kiwibank spokeswoman said it was having intermittent issues with some services including internet banking, app, website and phone services.

Asked if it had been subject to a cyberattack or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, the spokeswoman said the bank had identified the cause and was working hard to fix the issue. She did not say what the cause was.

‘‘Our priority at the moment is continuity of service for our customers. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused and thank them for their patience and support.’’

In a DDoS attack hackers overwhelm a site with huge numbers of bots trying to connect to it at once, rendering it inaccessible. There is no element of breaking into servers or stealing data. —