- Customers at McDonald’s, Ikea, Popeyes and others say they cannot pay their credit cards.
- Payment processor Fiserv said its services were interrupted on Friday.
- Earlier in the day, Chick-fil-A experienced a break and handed out free meals.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Businesses across the US only accept cash because their credit card payment systems are lower.
Fiserv, one of the leading payment providers in the US, told Insider: “A widespread disruption of the internet service provider has affected several businesses. Ann Cave, a spokeswoman for the company, added in an email. “Some Fiserv services that rely on internet connection have been suspended. The majority have been restored and we are fully focused on restoring the rest.” Fiserv did not want to name its internet service provider.
Customers on Twitter have interruptions at Ikea, Forever 21, McDonald’s and Popeyes, as well as in local places such as a laundromat and the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. Representatives of the businesses were not immediately available for comment Friday.
Chick-fil-A’s payment machines did not work earlier in the day, which resulted in them handing out free meals. Miami International Airport issue a statement to tell customers about a nationwide outage with credit card machines in taxis.
Customers called Fiserv on Twitter. “Our credit card processing system is currently out of order,” the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy tweeted. “The disruption occurred with First Data / Fiserv, which is one of the largest payment processing systems in the country.”
In 2019, Fiserv acquired another payment firm known as First Data in a $ 22 billion transaction. The acquisition reflects a trend of consolidation in the payment processing industry amid the world’s shift from cash to credit cards.
Another major payment provider, Global Payments, told Insider that it does not process payments for any of the businesses affected by the outage. Worldpay, a third major provider, did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Down Detector, which detects interruptions, has reported an increase in problems for people with Visa or Mastercard credit cards.
Seth Eisen, a spokesman for Mastercard, told Insider: “As far as Mastercard is concerned, we operate normally today.”
“Visa is aware of a service outage with a third-party provider, used by some merchants, causing internet problems that could affect a small number of cardholders today,” a Visa spokesman told Insider. “Visa systems are not affected.”