A technical glitch at Capital One has left thousands of banking customers unable to access their bank accounts, process payments, or receive direct deposits since Wednesday, January 15. The banking giant, which serves over 100 million clients across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., is scrambling to resolve the problem that has persisted until today.
The disruption, attributed to a technical issue with a third-party vendor, has affected various account services, including deposits and payment processing for consumer, small business, and commercial banking operations.
As of Friday morning, more than 3,400 outage reports were logged on Down Detector, a website that monitors technical outages, up from around 2,100 on Thursday.
“The impact cannot be understated,” says Jack Prenter, CEO and personal finance expert at Dollarwise. “If Capital One wants to regain their customers' trust, they should assess claims from customers who have been negatively financially impacted and make them whole and do it quickly, not taking weeks or months.”
Capital One outage comes at a bad time for customers
The timing of the outage has been particularly problematic for many customers, as it coincided with the mid-month pay period. Numerous account holders have reported being unable to access their paychecks, leaving them in a difficult position to pay bills, buy groceries, and cover other essential expenses.
“Outages happen more often than you might imagine. Bank of America had a similar issue in October, where customers balances were marked as zero and that prevented them from making transactions,” says Prenter. “However, that was resolved in a few hours. What's unusual about the Capital One outage is that it's extended well into its 2nd day now and the issue appears to be very widespread.”
One frustrated customer expressed their concerns on social media, stating, "Some of us have bills to pay and groceries to buy. At least keep us in the loop." Another user remarked, "Finally got through on the phone @CapitalOne, and the representative was dismissive because she's tired of the same calls about direct deposits. We need to cancel #CapitalOne; some of us rely on those deposits to live."
This is flat out awful! STILL no money, bills are not paid and declined payments!! What is going on!
— Nicolle (@niky_liz) January 17, 2025
Capital One has acknowledged the issue and is working to resolve it. In an email to customers on Thursday evening, the company stated, "Due to a technical issue experienced by a third-party vendor, some account services, deposits, and payment processing for portions of our consumer, small business, and commercial bank have been temporarily impacted."
The bank has assured customers that it is "working closely with the vendor to resolve the issue," but as of Friday morning, the system was "not yet fully operational."
Capital One representatives have been responding to complaints on social media, apologizing for the inconvenience and stating that they cannot provide an estimated time for resolution.
The prolonged nature of the outage has raised concerns about the potential impact on customers' financial well-being. With the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday—when banks will be closed—there are fears of additional delays in customers receiving their direct deposits.
What can you do to protect yourself from tech problems at your bank
Martin Mulyadi, professor of accounting at Shenandoah University and personal Capital One customer, encourages people to diversify where they store their funds.
“This outage underlines essential lessons in financial planning,” says Mulyadi. “The inability to access funds during an outage highlights the importance of diversification, where we should consider maintaining funds in different accounts. This situation also reinforces the need for financial institutions to strengthen their risk management.”
This technical disruption comes at a challenging time for Capital One, as the company was recently hit with a lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges practices that deprived savings account customers of $2 billion in interest payments—claims that were first brought to light by a class-action lawsuit filed in 2023.
As the outage continues, Capital One has stated that once the problem is resolved, it will process all transactions that have been delayed. However, the lack of a clear timeline for resolution has left many customers anxious and frustrated.
The incident serves as a stark reminder of the increasing reliance on digital banking systems and the potential consequences when these systems fail—and the importance of diversifying where you store your cash. Incidents like these are a great time to re-evaluate your banking options, and consider a better choice among available.
