Global Mastercard outage disrupts Australian card payments on Saturday
Consensus Summary
A global Mastercard outage disrupted card payments in Australia on Saturday afternoon, with both SMH and ABC confirming widespread issues affecting Sydney and Melbourne. Downdetector received thousands of reports, including over 1,700 by 3pm according to ABC, while SMH noted the problem was resolved about 4pm. The Commonwealth Bank advised customers to use EFTPOS as a workaround, and all other bank services, including ATMs, remained operational. SMH attributed the outage to a scheduled system update by Mastercard, though ABC did not confirm this cause. The ABC also highlighted additional issues with funds transfers and mobile banking, while SMH emphasized the worldwide nature of the problem.
✓ Verified by 2+ sources
Key details reported by multiple sources:
- Mastercard payments were declined in Sydney and Melbourne on Saturday afternoon
- Downdetector recorded thousands of reports of Mastercard outages on Saturday afternoon
- The Commonwealth Bank advised customers to use EFTPOS ('savings' option) if card payments were declined
- All other Commonwealth Bank services, including ATMs, remained available during the outage
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- Mastercard blamed a 'scheduled system update' for the outage
- The issue was resolved about 4pm on Saturday afternoon
- NAB and the Commonwealth Bank confirmed the problem was a worldwide Mastercard issue
- Services were being restored at 4pm according to the Commonwealth Bank
- Downdetector had more than 1,700 reports of Mastercard issues at 3pm on Saturday
- The most common issues reported involved funds transfers and mobile banking
- The ABC contacted Mastercard for comment but did not receive a statement
Where the reporting differs
Details that conflict, or appear in only some outlets:
- SMH states the outage was resolved about 4pm, while ABC reports issues were still being reported at 3pm without confirmation of resolution
- SMH mentions the outage was resolved by 4pm, but ABC does not provide a resolution time
Source Articles
‘Scheduled systems update’ leads to global Mastercard outage
Service issues website Down Detector recorded thousands of reports of outages for the Commonwealth Bank, Mastercard, ApplePay and Westpac on Saturday afternoon.
Breaking: Mastercard reportedly down due to 'global issue'
Mastercard card payments are being declined due to a global Mastercard issue, Commbank says.
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