On Wednesday, Bank of America customers experienced a significant disruption, leaving many unable to access their accounts and viewing zero balances. The outage began around 12:45 p.m. ET, according to Downdetector, a service that monitors online disruptions. Numerous customers voiced their frustration over being unable to view their account balances, with some accounts appearing completely empty, CNN reported.
Bank of America acknowledged the issue, stating that “some clients are experiencing an issue accessing their accounts and balance information today.” The bank assured customers that efforts were underway to resolve the problems and apologized for any inconvenience caused. However, the cause of the outage remains unknown, and it’s unclear when all systems will be fully operational. Several CNN employees with Bank of America accounts confirmed their inability to access online services during the afternoon. One customer on Downdetector reported seeing five accounts with zero balances, totaling over $20,000. Another customer mentioned being unable to log in while their spouse could, though her accounts displayed no balance.
This outage comes at a time when Bank of America is aggressively expanding its retail banking presence. The bank recently announced plans to open over 165 new financial centers across 63 U.S. markets by 2026, including nearly 40 centers this year. This expansion follows the opening of over 100 centers in the last two years.
While these outages are not uncommon in the banking sector, this incident underscores the potential for disruption in online banking services. Earlier this year, thousands of HSBC Holdings HSBC customers in Britain faced similar issues. Additionally, a widespread Microsoft service outage in July affected several sectors globally, including banks. The Bank of America outage serves as a reminder of the potential vulnerabilities in our increasingly digital financial landscape.
