On Wednesday afternoon, many Bank of America customers had trouble accessing their online accounts due to a major outage. Customers reported on social media that they couldn’t see their account balances. In some cases, even those who managed to log in saw their balances showing as $0, which caused a lot of worry and confusion. On Wednesday, October 2, millions of customers faced difficulties accessing their accounts and were shocked to see their balances displayed as $0. The digital outage impacted various banking services, with 57% of the reported issues linked to online banking, 42% to mobile banking, and 1% to ATM services, as reported by Forbes.
The problems started around 12:45 p.m. ET, according to Downdetector, a website that tracks service outages. Many complaints came from big cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, and Chicago, as shown on Downdetector’s map.
People who were affected received error messages stating that their “accounts are temporarily unavailable” or that “some accounts and balances are temporarily unavailable.” Others got a “Connection Error” message when they tried to log into the banking app, which said it could not complete their request and suggested they try again later.
Frustrated customers took to social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, to share their experiences and check if others were having similar issues. Many also reported having a hard time reaching Bank of America’s customer service. They faced long wait times, struggled to connect with representatives, and often encountered automated messages that didn’t solve their problems.
In a statement to CNN, Bank of America acknowledged that some customers were having trouble accessing their accounts and balance information that day. The bank said they were working on fixing the issues and that many had already been resolved. They apologized for the inconvenience.
However, despite the bank’s assurance, many customers continued to report ongoing issues. Some even mentioned that they were unable to enter physical Bank of America branches, adding to their frustration during this outage.
The Bank of America Corporation is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, with investment banking and auxiliary headquarters in Manhattan.