Bank of America customers were left in shock on Wednesday after many discovered they could not access their accounts, and some who could saw their balances mysteriously reduced to zero.
The issue, which appeared to be a glitch in the banking giant’s system, quickly spread across the country, leaving thousands of customers in major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Seattle scrambling for answers.
According to Downdetector, which tracks online outages, reports about the problem began spiking around 12:45 p.m. ET, with over 18,000 customers reporting issues at the height of the outage. Many were horrified to log in and find their account balances showing as $0, while others couldn’t access their accounts at all.
“Five accounts show zero balance, over 20K,” one frustrated customer wrote on Downdetector, while another shared that although they couldn’t log in, their spouse could—with their balance also appearing as zero. The panic spread quickly as customers turned to social media and online forums to express their fears.
Bank of America acknowledged the issue in a statement to CNN, confirming that some clients were experiencing problems accessing account balances.
“These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved,” the bank stated. “We apologize for any inconvenience.” However, Bank of America declined to provide specific details on what caused the outage or when the system would be fully restored.
The timing of the glitch, affecting thousands of accounts across the country, left many customers feeling vulnerable, particularly given how much we rely on digital access to manage our finances. For those who rely on these accounts for daily transactions or urgent payments, the brief loss of access was more than just an inconvenience—it was an alarming disruption.
By 5 p.m. ET, the number of outage reports had tapered off, suggesting that the problem was being gradually resolved. However, it remains unclear whether the issue has been fully rectified for all customers. For now, Bank of America customers are left hoping that the glitch was nothing more than a temporary hiccup and not indicative of a deeper issue within the bank’s system.
