Checkout chaos grows amid rising card problems: 'I didn't even know anything'

Standing at the Aldi checkout with a trolley full of groceries, Rebecca Jane Singh felt that familiar sinking feeling when the payment terminal flashed those dreaded words: 'Transaction declined.'

What should have been a routine Saturday morning shop turned into an embarrassing ordeal that left her explaining herself to passing customers while her ice cream slowly melted.

But Rebecca wasn't the only one caught out. A major outage at Commonwealth Bank during scheduled maintenance left millions of customers unable to access banking services, turning what was meant to be a brief Saturday morning system update into a weekend-long disruption that stretched well into Sunday.

The experience has become a wake-up call for many Australians, highlighting just how vulnerable we've become in our increasingly cashless society.

The Outage That Went Wrong

Commonwealth Bank's planned maintenance was meant to be wrapped up by 9am on Saturday, but when Rebecca Jane Singh went to pay for her weekly groceries at Aldi an hour after that deadline, she was told her card had been declined.

The Sydney mother of 30 years' standing with CBA found herself in an awkward situation. 'I was embarrassed, but I was thinking, 'This isn't my fault', but I felt like I had to explain myself to every person who was walking by,' she said.

Adding insult to injury, after unloading all her shopping and returning to her car to check if the app was working again, she discovered it was running smoothly.

That meant starting the entire grocery shopping process from scratch.

The planned maintenance, conducted on September 20, 2025, affected the functionality of the CommBank app and NetBank, causing inconvenience to users across Australia.

All CommBank banking services weren't restored until 11am Sunday, with the bank acknowledging there may be delays to receiving fast payments and transfers from other financial institutions.

It's Not Just a One-off Problem

This wasn't an isolated incident for Australia's largest bank. CBA experienced login issues affecting thousands of customers in April 2025, which were fixed by evening, marking the third significant disruption this year alone.

The problem extends far beyond Commonwealth Bank. Recent Reserve Bank research has found that newer, faster, real-time retail payment services like online banking facilities that offer Osko and PayID are more outage-prone and for longer periods.

The numbers tell a sobering story. According to RBA data, so-called 'fast transfers' experienced 415 outages over a recent monitoring period, while card payments were only down 79 times—that's more than five times as many disruptions for digital banking services.

The Human Cost of Going Cashless

Rebecca wasn't alone in her frustration that weekend. Social media filled with stories from customers caught out by the extended outage.

'I didn't even know anything until I did my shopping and went to pay for it and it declined,' wrote one customer. 'Then I went to the Commonwealth Bank and tried to get cardless cash, and that didn't work. Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have family who could help, unlike some others who are less fortunate.'

Another customer expressed anxiety about missing payments: 'I was supposed to be paid. When will I receive it? I have young children to get groceries for, as per every Saturday morning! Very frustrating.'

The impact goes beyond inconvenience. One customer shared on the Ajust platform: 'I couldn't access my account during the March outage and missed paying for essential medication. I was stuck, panicked, and completely in the dark.'

The Cash Comeback

A poll of hundreds of Yahoo Finance readers found that 88 per cent want to use cash more often to avoid these banking outage issues. This represents a significant shift in thinking as Australia has moved rapidly towards becoming a cashless society.

Rebecca's experience has certainly changed her approach to money management. She's now considering two key strategies: 'It's actually made me think about having a second bank account with another bank and making sure I've always got cash on me as a backup.'

Her reasoning is simple but compelling: 'Even if the internet goes down, you can't transfer money, you can't log in online... cash is probably the only stable thing.'

What Banks Aren't Telling You

While banks promote the convenience of digital services, RBA research found that 'the total duration of outages has not decreased alongside the fall in the overall volume of outages' - meaning when things go wrong, they stay wrong for longer.

Industry analysis suggests the Commonwealth Bank outage exposed gaps in contingency planning and communication, with experts noting that as banking moves further online, institutions must invest not only in technology but also in trust.

The communication issue is particularly frustrating for customers. Rebecca pointed out that while banks notified customers via social media and email, a simple text message to all customers would have been more effective. 'Who's checking Facebook for bank updates?' she asked.

Protecting Yourself from the Next Outage

For Australians, particularly those over 60 who may remember when cash was king, these outages serve as a reminder of the importance of maintaining diverse payment options.

Here are practical steps you can take:

Before an outage hits:

• Maintain accounts with at least two different banks
  
• Keep some cash accessible at home and in your wallet
  
• Save your bank's phone banking number in multiple places
  
• Know the locations of nearby branches and ATMs

During an outage:

• Don't panic—your money is safe, just temporarily inaccessible
  
• Try alternative access methods (phone banking, different apps)
  
• Use cash or cards from different banks
  
• Check official bank websites or call centres for updates

After an outage:

• Review what went wrong and update your backup plans
  
• Consider whether your current banking arrangements provide enough alternatives
  
• Don't rely solely on social media for important banking updates

Your Rights When Banks Let You Down

While banks aren't legally required to provide 100 per cent uptime, they do have obligations to customers affected by outages. If you incur costs due to a bank outage—such as late fees, overdraft charges, or emergency expenses—you can lodge a complaint with your bank's internal dispute resolution process.

For unresolved issues, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) provides free dispute resolution services. You can contact them on 1800 931 678 or visit
afca.org.au
.

The Bigger Picture

As the RBA notes, there's a deeply ironic situation where major institutions continue their 'war on cash and non-electronic payments' while their digital systems continue to confound customers with regular outages.

This raises important questions about Australia's rush towards a cashless society. While digital payments offer convenience, they also create single points of failure that can leave millions of people unable to access their own money when systems fail.

The solution isn't to abandon digital banking entirely, but rather to maintain a balanced approach that includes reliable backup options. As Rebecca discovered, sometimes the most high-tech solution is keeping some old-fashioned cash in your wallet.

Looking Ahead

Banks continue to invest heavily in digital infrastructure, but recent outages like CBA's September maintenance that took longer than anticipated show that even routine updates can cascade into service delays far beyond initial maintenance windows.

For now, the best protection for Australian consumers is diversification—different banks, different payment methods, and yes, a reasonable amount of cash for emergencies.

As Rebecca puts it: 'Cash is probably the only stable thing.' For a generation that lived through decades without digital banking, perhaps that's not such a radical idea after all.

Have you been caught out by a banking outage recently? What backup payment strategies have worked for you? Share your experiences and tips in the comments below—your story might help fellow readers avoid similar situations.