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Card payments were declined across multiple Australian states on Saturday afternoon after a scheduled system update disrupted Mastercard’s network, the company confirmed. Shoppers reported failures with Apple Pay, cash withdrawals and travel cards, prompting Commonwealth Bank to describe the disruption as a “global Mastercard issue.” Mastercard said in a statement the situation has since been resolved and all systems are “working as normal.”
The outage left shoppers stranded at checkouts. In Bayside, Victoria, Jackie Wells had three separate cards declined while trying to pay for $208 worth of groceries at Aldi, ultimately abandoning her shopping and returning home for cash. She said she watched other customers leave stores “disgruntled” after being unable to complete their purchases.
Outage-tracking site Downdetector recorded more than 1,700 reports of Mastercard issues at 3 p.m. Saturday, a figure that fell to 173 within two hours as service was restored. The most frequently reported problems involved funds transfers and mobile banking. Mastercard has not detailed what specifically triggered the failures beyond the scheduled update, and the company has not said whether further disruptions are expected.
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