Visa payment disruption hits UK & Europe

[Chloé Palmas]

Was the entire processing system down or just the card acceptance?

That is totally different to what I understood but it would explain a lot of the stores refusing to take card altogether - so I may have been hasty there to be jump down their throats.

It would also explain a lot...stores like Shoezone were saying that it was the entire area that was out - they must have assumed that the entire place (whole mall) used a visa processor.

Still worked fine in Debenhams / H&M / River Island etc so I guess places that use Amex require a different type of Payment processor?

[heero_yuy]

I like to have some cash in my wallet just in case. Saves the embarrassment factor if the card won't go through.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

I like to have some cash in my wallet just in case. Saves the embarrassment factor if the card won't go through.

Sadly give it a few years and we will have a cashless society..

[Chloé Palmas]

I was going to say though, what about withdrawals? I mean given that a majority of customers use Visa debit / Electron (at worst, if those are still even issued?) then would it not effect ATMs? (I am only asking as I didn't even try to draw out money yesterday).

Only it is rather a compromising situation given that 99% of debit cards are all Visa based.

In fact Santander just recently announced that they were the first of the major banks to return to a MC debit card:

https://www.ft.com/content/7d6f5e48-...e-22951a2d8493

I can't C&P from that article as it violates the T&C of the Pearson group / FT but here is a more accessible link if you are not an FT subscriber:

https://news.sky.com/story/about-tur...-visa-11355944

This talks a lot about the discrepancy between payment processors.

Given the the processing system for an entire entity is Visa based, a failure from them does kind of disproportionately and unfairly effect MC I suppose. So technically MC users would have had to go to an ATM, draw out (off their debit card), then go back into a store and pay because a Visa PS failed. Seems pretty harsh but I have a conflict of interest given my visa cards / the products I have with them (even if the PS and PP trade as separate entities) so I am choosing not to be too angry about this (rather conveniently) after all, lol. (At least I am honest about it!) Sucks for Mastercard as a company.

[heero_yuy]

Quote from denphone:


Sadly give it a few years and we will have a cashless society..

Won't even be "real" money, just credits.

[Chloé Palmas]

There was a lot of talk before this of having a cashless society. This hopefully (this experience) will convince folks that some opening of the payment market and more competition (along with infrastructure) will make it easier to allow smooth transitions going forward in instances of an outage, like yesterday. Not only is a cashless society inevitable but a lot of people are looking forward to it so the more work that is put into now, the better off the effectiveness of it will be, long term.

[Kabaal]

Hmm, just having a look at my account online and i seem to have a couple of triple transactions showing up in pending from yesterday. Only used the card twice, once in RS McColls for £2 and once in Morrisons for £8.70 so not huge amounts but both are showing as x3 so been charged £32 for them.

I'll leave it and see if they sort it out before they go from pending to done but i'd have been pissed if i'd bought something for a larger amount that got tripled and ate up my available balance.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Kabaal

Hmm, just having a look at my account online and i seem to have a couple of triple transactions showing up in pending from yesterday. Only used the card twice, once in RS McColls for £2 and once in Morrisons for £8.70 so not huge amounts but both are showing as x3 so been charged £32 for them.

I'll leave it and see if they sort it out before they go from pending to done but i'd have been pissed if i'd bought something for a larger amount that got tripled and ate up my available balance.

Pending doesn't really mean that much and they' ll probably disappear. Self service petrol pumps have been making £100 pending payments on folks cards, before they're even dispensed anything ! A bit ott, and as you say does affect your available balance.

[Chloé Palmas]

Originally Posted by Kabaal

Hmm, just having a look at my account online and i seem to have a couple of triple transactions showing up in pending from yesterday. Only used the card twice, once in RS McColls for £2 and once in Morrisons for £8.70 so not huge amounts but both are showing as x3 so been charged £32 for them.

I'll leave it and see if they sort it out before they go from pending to done but i'd have been pissed if i'd bought something for a larger amount that got tripled and ate up my available balance.

Some people are claiming that PT's are showing as "purchases" that went through but that should be pretty easy to get refunded back from a lender or bank. It is indeed kind of annoying and frustrating if it eats into your available, like you said.

Keep an eye on it but good proactive thinking to keep an eye on it early.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Chloé Palmas

I was going to say though, what about withdrawals? I mean given that a majority of customers use Visa debit / Electron (at worst, if those are still even issued?) then would it not effect ATMs? (I am only asking as I didn't even try to draw out money yesterday).

Only it is rather a compromising situation given that 99% of debit cards are all Visa based.

In fact Santander just recently announced that they were the first of the major banks to return to a MC debit card:

https://www.ft.com/content/7d6f5e48-...e-22951a2d8493

I can't C&P from that article as it violates the T&C of the Pearson group / FT but here is a more accessible link if you are not an FT subscriber:

https://news.sky.com/story/about-tur...-visa-11355944

This talks a lot about the discrepancy between payment processors.

Given the the processing system for an entire entity is Visa based, a failure from them does kind of disproportionately and unfairly effect MC I suppose. So technically MC users would have had to go to an ATM, draw out (off their debit card), then go back into a store and pay because a Visa PS failed. Seems pretty harsh but I have a conflict of interest given my visa cards / the products I have with them (even if the PS and PP trade as separate entities) so I am choosing not to be too angry about this (rather conveniently) after all, lol. (At least I am honest about it!) Sucks for Mastercard as a company.

Cash withdrawals are different to debit card purchases. They are done through your bank acc details rather than processed through Visa.

---------- Post added at 00:11 ---------- Previous post was at 00:09 ----------

Originally Posted by Kabaal

Hmm, just having a look at my account online and i seem to have a couple of triple transactions showing up in pending from yesterday. Only used the card twice, once in RS McColls for £2 and once in Morrisons for £8.70 so not huge amounts but both are showing as x3 so been charged £32 for them.

I'll leave it and see if they sort it out before they go from pending to done but i'd have been pissed if i'd bought something for a larger amount that got tripled and ate up my available balance.

Pending transactions reserved in error will usually drop back within a few days.

[Chloé Palmas]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Cash withdrawals are different to debit card purchases. They are done through your bank acc details rather than processed through Visa.

So for people paying through their bank account / debit card it probably didn't matter too much either way - just those of us using a CC that were screwed around.

Still, no bad feelings / ill will towards Visa - these things happen.

[Stephen]

I made a few contactless visa payments and they all went through fine.

So not sure what the actual issue was.