Bank of Ireland’s online outage

Bank of Ireland customers have been struggling to access their online accounts and services, currently, the problem has not yet been diagnosed.

On Thursday, April 4, Bank of Ireland (BOI) customers encountered a significant disruption. The issue prevented users from accessing their online banking services through the bank’s apps and websites, sparking widespread concern and frustration among its clientele.

Widespread disruption on all platforms

The digital breakdown happened around at midday, leaving countless individuals unable to log into their accounts.

Error messages greeted those attempting to use the bank’s digital interfaces, an issue that affected both desktop and mobile platforms.

The bank was quick to acknowledge the situation, stating, ‘We are aware that customers are experiencing an issue logging into desktop and mobile banking. We are working to fix this as quickly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused.’

This incident adds to a series of IT challenges the bank has faced over the past two years, which previously resulted in fines and a reprimand from the Central Bank.

Customer frustration on social media

BOI announced on Twitter/X: ‘Our mobile banking is currently not available. We are very sorry for the inconvenience to our customers. We are working on this as a priority.’

The outage prompted a wave of complaints on social media, as customers sought answers and updates, with bank staff trying to answer as many people as possible.

Chris asked: ‘Who is going to pay for the diesel I just pumped?’ to which the bank clarified: ‘Rest assured physical card transactions are not affected by this.’

One frustrated client named Anne posted: ‘Not as if this is first time this happened. Cash is king. Be prepared.’

In response, the bank could not provide a definitive timeline for when services would resume, merely stating, ‘we cannot confirm a time frame yet unfortunately. I do apologise about the inconvenience of this. We are hoping to have it resolved soon.’

Device compatibility concerns

In an unrelated yet important development, Bank of Ireland announced that, to maintain access to its digital services, customers might need to upgrade their mobile devices. By July 1, iPhones and iPads must operate on at least iOS version 15, and Android devices on Android 11 or higher.

This directive stems from compatibility issues with older operating systems, which no longer receive updates from manufacturers, potentially forcing customers to incur significant expenses for new devices.