Westpac Down: Banking App Won’t Load, Payments Fail for Customers

Westpac’s banking services went down on Tuesday afternoon, and customers said they could not load the bank’s app, transfer money or pay for purchases, according to the Daily Mail. The bank confirmed the problem in an online statement, and the outage was still affecting customers at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Westpac is Australia’s second-largest bank. Bank of Melbourne and St.George Bank, both owned by Westpac, also had services down.

What Westpac has said

The bank said it knew some customers were having trouble reaching some of its banking services. Its statement said teams were working “to restore these services as quickly as possible” and apologized for the inconvenience. An alert inside the Westpac app said the bank was working to fix the issue as a priority.

Westpac has not disclosed what caused the outage. The Daily Mail said it contacted the bank for comment. In the latest report, service had not been restored.

What customers are reporting

Dozens of customers posted in the comments under the bank’s statement. One wrote that they could not pay for medications or food. Another said they urgently needed to transfer money and could not get anyone on the phone.

A third commenter pointed to a planned upgrade at midnight and asked the bank to let people move money before it began. Westpac has not said whether that upgrade has any connection to the outage.

What the outage tracker shows

Downdetector, a website where users report problems with services, logged reports about Westpac starting at 3.32 p.m. and peaking at 5.02 p.m., the Daily Mail reported. Those figures come from user submissions to the tracker and are not a count confirmed by the bank.

What this means for Westpac customers

The disruption reached the mobile app, which would not load for people trying to move money, and everyday payments at the shops. Customers of Bank of Melbourne and St.George Bank were in the same position, since both brands belong to Westpac. The outage ran from the afternoon into the evening, and the bank’s only public update so far is that its teams are working on a fix.

Source: Daily Mail