After Verizon and then PlayStation, Bank of America seemed to be the third major institution hit with an outage this week. The bank’s customers started experiencing issues yesterday (October 2nd) on both its mobile app and on its website.
Unlike those other outages, customers were able to access Bank of America’s services. However, when many did, they were met with quite the shock when their bank account balance showed either zero or the wrong value for their accounts.
According to DownDetector, the outage started at just after noon Eastern Time yesterday and Bank of America customers across the U.S. experienced this worrisome glitch for the rest of the day. At time of writing, around 19,000 affected customers took to DownDetector to report the issue. Complaints are still rolling in now and, while Bank of America claims the issue has been resolved, we’ll be following the situation with both the app and website in case of any further problems.
Are you having trouble accessing your Bank of America account or does it say $0 balance? Please leave a comment.
Outage confirmed but not yet resolved
If you checked your Bank of America account today and saw that you were suddenly broke, you’re not alone. The bank is currently experiencing a widespread, nationwide outage where accounts either show incorrect balances or no balances at all.
Bank of America has now confirmed that some customers are experiencing issues with their accounts and balance information. The company says that the issues are being addressed and have been resolved for most customers. However, a steady stream of complaints on DownDetector would beg to differ.
Missing transfers and deposits
In addition to incorrect and completely missing bank balances on both checking and savings accounts, Bank of America customers have reported on DownDetector that the options for transfers and deposits are not even showing up in the bank’s mobile app. For those who have scheduled transactions that need to be carried out today, this is bad news.
Physical locations closing?
Besides its mobile app and website, it now appears that some Bank of America locations may be closed. According to a post on X, one customer went to their local bank and saw a sign saying that the location was temporarily closed.
Take this with a grain of salt at the moment but we'll being staying on top of this to see if other Bank of America locations have closed down shop due to the outage.
Support via private messages
Now that Bank of Customers have taken to social media to express their outrage of this outage, the bank's social care team has logged onto X and is now taking questions via private message. Not quite sure what they'll be able to do for affected customers but you can leave your name, zip code and phone number to have them contact you if needed.
Bank of America releases statement to CNN
Bank of America told CNN in a statement that a fix is in the works and the issue is mostly resolved.
“These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved,” Bank of America said. “We apologize for any inconvenience.”
They did not specify what caused the problem or when all of their systems would be fully functional.
Complaints still streaming in
Initial reports on Down Detector started coming in around 9:45 AM Pacific with the biggest spike peaking 10:20 AM Pacific this morning.
The peak spike of 20,000 reports last for about 20 minutes and outage reports have gone down. However, they remain holding steady in the 2500 range and have since around 1:45 PM Pacific time.
Despite Bank of America's claims, there are still plenty of reports and complaints that the app and account information is not working properly.
Though we have seen people claim that their debit cards are still working, they just can't see the transaction in the mobile apps or online.
Payday looms
It's stressful anytime a banking app glitches, especially if your account starts reading $0.00 across the board.
Many of the complaints we're seeing across X, Down Detector and Reddit are related to the fact that for many people bills and rent are due this week. Plus, if you're weren't paid on the last Friday of September (the 27th), then you're expecting to get paid on Friday the 4th of October.
One BofA customer on X found that while their other accounts were reading zeros, conveniently, their debt was still showing for a credit card.
My money is gone but conveniently my debt is still there. Bank of America sucks pic.twitter.com/KUy8tSZkIpOctober 2, 2024
Information Security
Bank of America has a separate X account called Bank of America Help. It is a verified account with X and one that Bank of America directly links to from their website.
The account has been responding to people's complaints with an auto message that looks like this:
Hi Abby, We'd be glad to review the account to see how we can help, please use the link below to connect with us. In the event we need to connect via phone or secured chat, please send your full name, account zip code, and phone number along with email address. Thank you. ^susanOctober 2, 2024
Regardless of whether or not the BofA Help account is real, we highly recommend you don't just post your information in response. Use some caution when DMing the account, even if they are verified.
At this time, the line is probably inundated with anxious customers but they do have an official support phone number of 844.375.7028.
Their website also suggests setting an appointment to "Meet with a specialist" via their app, which may or may not be working at this time.
We've also seen other X users telling people to contact "cybersecurity" experts that they tag in posts. Do not do that. That's just unsafe behavior.
And it's best to ignore the crypto-bros who are more or less trolling at this point.
Silence from Bank of America
As of this writing, 4:15 PM Pacific the only statement we've seen from Bank of America was the short statement indicating that the bank was aware of the issue and a fix was in the works.
Down Detector still shows a strong 2,500+ outage reports, ongoing since about 1:30 PM Pacific.
There are multiple complaints across social media including X, BofA's Facebook account, Down Detector and Reddit.
Tom's Guide has reached out to Bank of America for comment and will update if they respond. Because multiple Bank of America customers complained about trying to use Zelle with their BofA accounts, we have also reached out to Zelle for comment. Again, if the company responds we will update with their statement.
For now, Bank of America still appears to be having issues. We've seen mixed reports of people being able to use their debit cards and others not. Some have claimed that they can see their balances if they go into the individual accounts just not on the main dashboard of the Bank of America app. Others have denied that.
For every "I can do this" there is appears to be an equal "I can't."
And now, more customers are upset with Bank of America for their silence than with the issue.
One X user wrote: "I honestly don’t understand how Bank of America has released ZERO statements about their nationwide outage. Literally nothing. Everyone left in the dark. Embarrassing"
Brick-and-mortar banks bar people from entering?
We've seen multiple reports of people being barred from actual Bank of America locations like the one in the image above.
At this point in the day, most of the physical banks are closing or getting to near to closing. Still, it appears to confirm earlier reports that systems at physical BofA banks were also experiencing issues.
In July, BofA promoted that over 58 million people use the company's "digital capabilities" and did so over "23.4 billion times." A not insignificant amount of people to be locked out of their accounts.
As of this writing, 4:45 PM Pacific, Down Detector is still showing reports hitting the 2,500 mark and people across social media are still reporting issues with the app.
Bank of America remans silent.
Bank of America responds to Tom's Guide
After submitting inquiries to Bank of America, the bank finally sent a response.
Unfortunately, the statement is the same as the one received by CNN several hours ago.
"Some clients are experiencing an issue accessing their accounts and balance information today. These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience."
We have asked for clarification on the ongoing issue and when customers can expect a full fix.
Outage appears done
The outage finally appears to be going down.
As of 6:30 PM Pacific, Down Detector has reports dipping under 700 reports starting with a decline of reporting that began around 5:15 PM Pacific.
Bank of America has not responded or posted about what may have caused the outage beyond the initial statement that was released.
Tom's Guide will keep an eye on the outage if anything changes. For now, it appears to be over.
At least 19,000 customers affected
While the outage appears to be over, it's not immediately clear how many Bank of America users were ultimately affected. Over 19,000 customers took to DownDetector to report their accounts had been hit with the glitch — but since Bank of America has over 69 million individual and small business clients, the actual amount of people affected is likely to be much higher.
Bank of America itself still hasn't given a cause for the outage, or released a public statement beyond the comments we reported earlier. The banking giant has yet to post on social media but has told media outlets the problems “have largely been resolved.”
Lingering complaints
We just checked DownDetector and it looks like there are some Bank of America customers who are still having issues. One person claims that his account is showing a negative $499 balance despite being paid yesterday.
