If you’re having issues sending money to your friends and family through your financial institution – maybe Chase, Bank of America, or TD Bank – you’re not alone. Zelle, which is the company and tech that powers these instant transfers between banks, is in the midst of an outage.
Much of Zelle's appeal versus Venmo or PayPal is that it’s instant, and no extra fees are associated with the speed. However, users have taken to Down Detector – a site that tracks outages – and social media platforms to voice issues with the platform.
Reported outages spiked to over 1,000 at 1PM ET, and right now, as of this live blog starting, are circulating around 720 reports. Stick with us as we track this outage as it rolls on.
It's clear that Zelle is having a rough day, here's a look at the reported outages thus far on Down Detector.
Zelle has confirmed the ongoing outage. Here's what a spokesperson shared with us:
“We are aware that certain Zelle® users at some financial institutions are not able to use Zelle at this time. This situation involves an independent third-party that provides services to particular financial institutions. We are working diligently with our partners to resolve this matter as soon as we can. Zelle users may see transactions marked as ‘payment pending’ in the meantime. We will share updates as more information becomes available.”
It's clear that Zelle is aware of the issue and notes that it's worth working with various partners to resolve it. As with most outages, no exact timeframe is given. And if you can use Zelle right now through a bank, but it's not working as expected, you might see "payment pending."
Interestingly enough, it doesn't seem as if all institutions that work with Zelle are having issues. I was able to send money through Zelle via Chase this morning, and just a few minutes ago.
However, via Down Detector, some other financial institutions seem to be seeing the brunt of this failed Zelle payment or the pending flag.
Additionally, on X (formerly Twitter), CNN's Matt Egan notes that the issues impacting Zelle are linked to Fiserv, which is also experiencing an outage according to Down Detector. The platform also shows that Ally and Old National Bank are having issues.
Zelle confirms to @CNN that users at some banks are not able to use the payments platform.Zelle said the issue is linked to a third-party: Fiserv@downdetector outage reports spiked Friday morning and remain elevated. pic.twitter.com/dIImnb45EAMay 2, 2025
We're waiting for Fiserv to comment on the issue, and we'll update you when we hear back. In the meantime, here's a look at what some impacted users are sharing on social media.
It's worth noting that Zelle, while responding when asked for comment, doesn't have a services status page.
@NavyFederal need to send out alerts stating when something is down! Got my money in limbo bcuz their Zelle services is experiencing an outage and nobody can explain anything more 😑May 2, 2025
Zelle is down. At least for Citizens bank #zelle #ZelleDown #Epicfail pic.twitter.com/mDm1FM81X8May 2, 2025
Here's a quick update on reported outages on Down Detector: Zelle has over 800 reported outages as of 2:51 PM ET, an increase from the time we began our live blog.
Banks like Bank of America, Ally, and Old National Bank are still seeing spikes. Fiserv, which has likely far fewer consumer users, is currently sitting at 91 reported outages as of 2:53 PM ET.
There is still no time frame for a fix from Zelle or Fiserv, but reports are holding pretty steady on Down Detector. Zelle is showing 727 reported outages as of 3:35 PM ET.
Fiserv says it has fixed an internal issue that caused some of the Zelle problems
We're finally here from Fiserv. Here's what a spokesperson shared with TechRadar:
"Earlier today, we experienced an internal issue that temporarily disrupted service. The issue has since been resolved, and we are now working to process the backlog. We remain committed to providing reliable service and are taking steps to prevent similar occurrences in the future."
While Fiserv isn't sharing what the issue was, the teams there identified it and have resolved it. Now, though, it's processing the backlog. That will likely take a bit, but Fiserv also promises to work to prevent these in the future.
Zelle is showing some signs of recovery – as of 5:45 PM ET, there were under 500 reported outages on Down Detector. We're still monitoring reports and have asked Fiserv for more details, but we haven't heard back yet.
We're approaching 10 PM ET here on the east coast of the United States, and reported issues with Zelle on Down Detector are beginning to drop, though it has been a bit of a rollercoaster.
As of 9:39 PM ET, Down Detector shows only 311 reports for the platform. That's far below the over 1,000 reports we saw earlier today. We'll resume updates tomorrow morning and update you if we hear anything further from Zelle or Fiserv.
