Bank of America customers across the United States experienced significant frustration on Friday after the bank’s digital systems reportedly encountered an internal problem, leading to a widespread outage.
According to the monitoring site Downdetector, the total number of users reporting issues peaked at over 3,000 at the time of the report, with issues starting around 7:17 PM EST.
Key Issues Reported by Customers
The majority of complaints pointed to problems with accessing accurate account information and executing transactions, primarily impacting mobile banking. Users took to Down detector and social media platform X to voice their concerns:
- Incorrect Balances: Many customers reported seeing outdated information, with balances only reflecting the totals from the previous business day. One user stated, “Logging in shows previous days balances. Can’t transfer or Zelle.” Another commented that the mobile app balance was showing a previous day’s total, and a call to the bank even indicated a “0 balance.”
- Transaction Lockout: Customers noted that they were unable to perform critical functions. A bank message seen by one user confirmed the issue, reading: “Temporarily unable to display some accounts and/or latest balances We’re working to resolve this issue quickly.”
- Card Functionality: One customer specifically claimed that Bank of America’s debit and credit cards were not working in Virginia as of 6 PM ET.
- Affected Areas: The outage appeared to affect major metropolitan areas, including Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Bank and Customer Response
The issue led to a surge of angry and confused messages on social media. Users complained about the inability to access funds and the apparent lapse in service.
- One frustrated person on X commented, “Bank of America needs to fix this problem expeditiously.”
- Another user inquired: “hi is there an issue with the Bank of America network I keep getting a temporary network unavailable and it’s says y’all are working on it. Let me know.”
While the issue appears to be a systems-level glitch on the bank’s end, Bank of America maintains several standard troubleshooting methods for individual login problems, though they are unlikely to resolve a system-wide outage:
- Password Reset: Changing the password to ensure it meets the security standards (8 characters, 1 uppercase, 1 lowercase, 1 number).
- User ID Check: Confirming the correct User ID is entered, sometimes requiring manual re-entry.
- Deleting Stored Credentials: Clearing outdated stored passwords/credentials.
For customers needing to reach the bank, the deposit accounts and accessible banking services number is 800-432-1000. The bank also accepts calls made through relay services by dialing 711.