Summary
- Visa says the widespread outage which affected customers in the UK, Europe and abroad was caused by a “hardware failure” and was not the result of unauthorised access.
- Cardholders can now use their Visa cards, with services now operating at “close to normal levels”.
- Chip and pin transactions were affected, but ATM withdrawals were not. American Express and Mastercard were running a normal service throughout.
- The outage is believed to have started at around 2:30pm
- Disgruntled customers at supermarkets, petrol stations and abroad vented their frustrations on social media when there was little information from the financial services firm. Bank transactions were also hit.
- Experts have advised consumers to carry backup payment options, while Which? warned consumers to be “extra wary” of calls and emails relating to the network failure.
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Outage was a result of "hardware failure", says Visa
Visa said the outage was caused by a hardware failure and was not a result of “unauthorised access or malicious event”.
Five hours after an initial statement, the company said its payment systems were almost back to normal.
The firm apologised to its customers after it admitted it fell “well short” of its reliability targets today.
Here is their latest statement:
Earlier today, Visa had a system failure that impacted customers across Europe.
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.
Visa cardholders can now use their Visa cards as we are currently operating at close to normal levels.
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.
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UK Finance, a trade association which represents leading firms in the payments industry, said:
Visa is currently experiencing a service disruption which is preventing some Visa transactions in Europe from being processed. It is investigating the cause and acting as quickly as possible to resolve the situation. Visa is working with banks, building societies, merchant acquirers and card providers to return to a normal service and will provide regular updates.
Customers should check their bank, building society or card provider website or contact them with any queries.
Outage is a potential "magnet for scammers"
Which? has warned that the widespread network failure could attract scammers and advised people to be “extra wary” of calls or emails related to the outage.
It's a good idea to be extra wary about any emails or phone calls you may receive related to the Visa outage.
— Which? (@WhichUK) June 1, 2018
Unexpected financial events like this can be a magnet for scammers.
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Consumers advised to keep records of expenses to claim back later
Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, 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.”
Abandoned baskets and "cash only" signs at Morrisons branch
Guardian Money’s Miles Brignall has just returned from the Morrisons supermarket in Letchworth. It’s cash only signs up. Plenty of shoppers have abandoned their baskets. Others are queuing up outside the ATMs outside the building.
Everyone’s pretty good natured considering. He says he was able to pay using a MasterCard and had no problems. Amex was also being taken but no Visa cards.
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Snapshot from shoppers
Readers have been getting in touch with their experiences.
Although the outage appears to have struck at around 2:30pm, one reader said she was unable to use her Visa debit at lunchtime.
Rebecca Rapport said:
My Visa debit was declined in M&S in the City at about 13:15 today. The sales assistant thought it was the card machine so I used Apple Pay. Sounds like this has been happening earlier than reported.
Rich Dunning, an administrator at the University of Liverpool who is currently working in the US with a colleague, had his card declined.
We’re currently in the US for work and all our Visa work cards were declined, so it looks like the outage seems to be affecting cards being used outside Europe, too. Luckily I had some dollars in cash from earlier and a colleague has a MasterCard so we’re not totally stuck!
Amid a lack of information at a the supermarket till, reader Fiona Hillhouse had to make various enquiries at Asda and her bank before being told about the problem.
My husband and I had nipped to Asda earlier to get some shopping. My husband used his card to pay and checkout assistant declared it was declined. They tried three times, so I ran out to the car to get my card which I’d used just before to pay the hygienist.
We have a joint account so I used my card - declined too. The none-to-helpful checkout assistant told us to take it up with the bank. How could both cards not be working? And how were we going to pay for our shopping? My husband used his credit card.
Got home. Phoned the bank, waited half an hour to speak to someone. Account was fine it must be Asda’s machines.
Phoned Asda. Was advised it was a problem with Visa. Could they not have told us that instead of making us feel mortified as if we didn’t have money in our bank account in front of a queue of customers.
I’m just relieved someone hasn’t emptied our bank account!
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Outage “simply not good enough in this day and age” - MoneySavingExpert
Guy Anker, the deputy editor of consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com, criticised the network failure in an age when we “rely so heavily on technology” for basic purchases.
After TSB’s IT meltdown, this is yet another big banking or payment systems problem for people to have to deal with. It’s simply not good enough in this day and age when we rely so heavily on technology to conduct what are pretty basic things such as buying a drink or a meal.
If you’re going out or making a payment online over the weekend, have a look at what’s in your wallet and ensure if you’ve a MasterCard or Amex you take that out or use it. And until this is fixed cash is king if you’re spending out and about, so ensure you’ve enough to get by on in case your cards don’t work.
As this is about processing credit or debit card transactions it shouldn’t affect standing orders, direct debits or bank transfers.
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Shoppers should "always carry two means of payment", says one expert
Peter Hahn, the professor of banking at the London Institute of Banking and Finance, said consumers should be prepared for the possibility of “cyber risks” at all times by having backup payment options.
He told Sky News:
In today’s world, with cyber risks, everyone really needs to always be carrying two means to make a payment.
That almost means you should have two bank accounts. Cyber risks can happen really anywhere. Visa - we tend to think of it as a bank, but for most of us what it means is that it’s a communications network.
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.
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What we know so far
There have been no further updates from Visa since an initial statement sent more than two hours ago. Here is what we know so far.
Petrol station woes for one MP
Labour MP Angela Rayner appears to have been affected during a visit to her local garage:
First time I’ve ever left without paying for my fuel ⛽️ #visa fail 🚘 good job my local garage knows me 😏
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) June 1, 2018
"Cash only" sign at a Sheffield Sainsbury's store
Sign outside Sainsbury’s in Broomhill, Sheffield. The visa network is suffering outage across the UK, though some businesses here say they aren’t having problems. #Visa pic.twitter.com/o8B4UgSmjt
— Frances Perraudin (@fperraudin) June 1, 2018
Businesses and shoppers in Broomhill seem "relaxed"
Business owners and shoppers out in Broomhill in west Sheffield seemed intensely relaxed about the Visa machine difficulties.
“I usually just pay by cash anyway,” said Mandy Stevens, as she came out of Morrisons with her shopping. The store had problems taking card payments all afternoon, with customers going outside and waiting patiently to take money out of a cash point, before returning.
Stevens, who runs the SM Hair hairdressers across the road, said the first thing she knew of the troubles had been when a client asked if her machine was working because he had read the news. Her salon’s machine was working fine on Friday. “Maybe it’s just certain types of machines or certain places that are having trouble,” she said.
Most businesses on Broomhill’s high street reported having some problems taking card payments on Friday afternoon. Richard Stacey from the Record Collector record shop said it had been a quiet day anyway, so the difficulties had not damaged business.
A barista at Costa Coffee said he had heard that nearby cash machines were running out of money, which could cause difficulties if the problems persisted. “We’ll see what tomorrow brings”, he said. Remo Sineone, who runs Remo’s, a cafe and deli, said he had been having particular trouble taking contactless payments on Friday afternoon. “Short term, I can’t really see it being much of a problem to be honest,” he said.
Updated
Hello, I’ll be on the liveblog this evening. Do get in touch with your Visa outage stories here: isabel.togoh.casual@guardian.co.uk.
American Express and Mastercard currently working
There is currently a disruption of service in taking payments from VISA. It is affecting all shops/merchants across the UK and Ireland.
— Wrapped! (@wrappedshop) June 1, 2018
We can still accept MasterCard, American Express or good old cash! We'll keep you updated when it's fixed and apologise for any inconvenience.
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Overseas travellers stuck as a result of Visa outage
One British traveller in Sicily has tweeted Visa for help because they cannot pay for train tickets to Palermo to get their flights.
@visa. 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 from Taormina for flights. Can you help please??
— Liz Atkins (@drlizatkins) June 1, 2018
Twitter user Oscar Pratelli also stated that he was stranded.
@Visa @VisaNewsEurope
— Oscar Pratelli (@oscar_pratelli) June 1, 2018
Thanks for leaving me stranded at a train station!!! #visadown #visa
Broadcaster Jay Curtis tweeted that he had two Visa payments declined and was put on hold for 40 minutes, only to be told there was a Europe-wide problem.
2 different #Visa card payments declined, told to call Fraud team, on hold 40 minutes to read there is a problem across Europe with payments. Had to leave all the items in store! Not impressed! #visaoutage
— Jay Curtis (@jaycurtis) June 1, 2018
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Chaos in King's Cross as queues grow: "The queues are intense in M&S"
Staff in John Lewis in St Pancras station said Visa payments had been going down sporadically since about 4pm. “Sometimes it works, but a lot of transactions have been failing,” Pedro Rodriguez, a sales assistant, said. “More than 10 transactions have failed. One lady had to call her bank and was quite upset, but most people have a MasterCard as well or cash so it’s ok.”
Boots staff said the problem only appeared to effect PIN-number transactions and people were still able to pay for purchases below £30.
Thameslink and East Midlands Trains staff said they were not aware of people having difficulties buying tickets.
Lisa Eagleton-Muir, 44, had come to London to audition for the Great British Sewing Bee, but could not buy any food at Kings Cross station for the train back to Newcastle. “I’ve only got two cards and they’re both Visa. I tried to buy my tea in M&S and a cafe but they were both rejected. I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s a long journey home with no food.” Luckily she was able to withdraw cash from the a cash machine.
Paperchase in the station said it had stopped taking any card payments following repeated cancellations.
“I tried all my cards and none of them work, I’m going to be really late for my train,” said Alison Merritt Smith, 31, an arts producer. “The queues are intense in M&S. But the are dealing with it fantastically.”
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A range of companies have issued statements saying they are having problems with payments:
Sainsbury’s said:
This seems to be affecting different customers cards in different ways but we are not experiencing significant issues currently.
Train operator GWR said its ticket booths and vending machines were not able to accept Visa cards. A spokesman said that onboard train staff were aware of the issue and it was possible for passengers to buy tickets on the train with cash.
We encourage passengers to use cash to buy tickets at ticket offices or the machines before they travel. We are taking steps to make ticket buying as easy as possible for passengers at this time.
Wetherspoons confirmed it was suffering from “intermittent Visa card issues” which were affecting all cards processed by chip and pin or its mobile app. The pub group is asking customers to use an alternative card provider or cash.
A TfL spokesperson said:
Customers using contactless payment cards should be able to carry on using our Tube, bus and rail services as normal. We are monitoring the situation in close collaboration with our payments providers.
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Europe wide disruption
Tranquil@, si no puedes pagar no has sufrido ningún robo ni hackeo#Visa sufre una caída en Europa que impide procesar pagos con sus tarjetas https://t.co/Y2djuHfdUbpic.twitter.com/LdTbpqsv3e
— Guardia Civil 🇪🇸 (@guardiacivil) June 1, 2018
In Spain, the guardia civil sent a tweet aimed at reassuring those affected by the system failure. Beneath a picture of Johnny Depp as a shocked Captain Jack Sparrow, the force said: “Stay calm. If you can’t pay it’s not because you’ve been robbed or hacked. Visa is suffering a service crash in Europe that’s stopping payments going through in its cards.
Asda urges customers to bring cash
A spokesman for supermarket chain Asda said problems with payments had been happening in stores across the country sporadically since 3pm on Friday. Some payments were going through but some were not, he said. Customers are being told that cash is the best way to pay.
“When you try and pay something, it sends a message to Visa and then Visa have to send a message back to the chip and pin machine to say this is OK and then the banks are in between at some point. The message that is coming back to the chip and pin, that is where the fault is.
“We are advising customers that cash is the best way to buy your shopping because you can still get cash out with [a] debit card.
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Supermarkets dealing with payment problems.
In Scotland, some supermarkets say Visa is working sporadically and they are opening cash-only tills.
Frances, a check out manager at Morrison’s in Anniesland, Glasgow, has been giving out old-style hand-held card machines and paper authentication slips to check out staff, as well as opening more cash-only tills. She says that the outage has been coming in waves, so it is hard to know whether the cards will work or not.
Customers are still getting served reasonably quickly though, despite the added delay of calling up to authenticate individual cards.
Not quickly enough for Shelley, who was shopping with her two nephews having run out of milk during a babysitting session. She was flustered trying to pay her bill and then add the extra value points to her loyalty card at the customer service desk.
The visa outage seems to be by no means uniform, and other stores across the shopping precinct reported no problems at all this afternoon.
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Banks apologise to customers
Banks have been apologising to irate customers for ongoing payment issues.
A spokesperson for Royal Bank of Scotland said:
We are aware that some customers are experiencing issues using their debit cards. We apologies to customers for the inconvenience and we are working with our suppliers to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Customers are still able to access cash through the ATM network.
Some payments were being processed through RBS but it was not clear how many and how many were encountering problems.
Lloyds Bank said:
We are aware of an industry wide issue effecting Visa payments which is under investigation. ATM and Mastercard transactions are not impacted. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
We are aware of an industry wide issue effecting Visa payments which is under investigation. ATM and Mastercard transactions are not impacted. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
— Lloyds Bank (@AskLloydsBank) June 1, 2018
A spokesman for Barclays declined to comment on the matter and directed calls to Visa.
We are leaving it to Visa to explain what the issue is.
Visa investigating transaction issues
There has been no update from Visa since it posted this tweet just before 5pm on Friday
We are currently experiencing a service disruption which 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. We will keep you updated.
— VisaNewsEurope (@VisaNewsEurope) June 1, 2018
Visa users experience problems with payments across UK and Europe
Visa card users are experiencing widespread problems making online payments across the UK and in Europe.
Visa said some card payments were failing and itwas investigating the cause of the disruption.
Many customers have used Twitter to express their frustration and concern that their card payments are being denied.
“We are investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation,” Visa said in a statement.
It is understood that the problem to be limited to Visa card payments only.
Several banks have used Twitter to tell customers that they are having some issues processing Visa payments. HSBC said they were “slowly recovering” while First Bank told customers there weren’t “any timescales for resolution at the moment”.
We’re going to keep you up to date with all the developments as they happen.
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