How to Handle a Credit Card Processing Outage

Being prepared to handle credit card processing outages before they happen is a must for every business owner. Whether you operate entirely in-person, entirely online, or a mix of both, not being able to accept credit card payments even for a short time could lead to you missing out on sales, unhappy customers, and reputational damage.

Because the credit card processing system involves so many different parties (internet provider, power supply, POS terminals, bank, card networks, gateway, etc.), it’s almost inevitable that something will go awry from time to time. However, knowing how to troubleshoot the problem and having a plan B (and C and D…) in place will help you minimise any potential damage.

Step 1: Identify the Source of the Outage

There are a number of things that can go wrong with your payment processing system. Knowing what the problem is is necessary in order to fix it. As soon as you notice an error message like “system offline” or “system error”, an error symbol on your WiFi icon, have customers e-mailing or calling to say they can’t pay or—the most obvious—all of the lights in the building go out, begin the troubleshooting process:

• Is there a power outage? Try flicking a light on and off. If the power is out, check other parts of the building, visit your neighbouring buildings, and call your electricity company to see how widespread the power outage is. It might be that someone blew the fuse, that a pole is down, that there was scheduled maintenance, or that the weather interrupted the current.
• Is the internet down? If you see an error symbol on your internet or WiFi icon, ask others in the building if their WiFi is also out. If the internet connection problem is affecting more than your device, reboot the router. If that doesn’t work, call your internet service provider to find out what the problem is and whether it’s regional or only affects you (in which case, they might need to send technicians). Also check whether a mobile network failover has occurred; your system may have switched to a 4G/5G backup hotspot. In Europe, most gateways have a status page that provides real-time information or notifications to confirm if there is an issue.
• Is there a problem with your hardware or software?
  • Hardware issues can arise when there is a faulty component or the hardware isn’t compatible with your chosen point-of-sale system. Check whether all of your POS terminals are out or only one and let your payment processor know.
  • Software issues may occur due to scheduled maintenance, a new update that hasn’t been installed, or a technical glitch. First, check for updates and install any that are available. Then, reboot your system and call your payment processor if the software still doesn’t work.
  • Software issues can also affect virtual terminals, tablet-based POS systems, and cloud-based payment gateways. Make sure these platforms are updated and in sync with your system.

• Is it a card network issue? If transactions from a specific card brand aren’t going through, there might be a nationwide credit card outage affecting one of the major credit card companies. Check the relevant card brand’s status page (e.g., Visa Europe) or use a tool like DownDetector, StatusGator, or IsDown, to see if any outages have been reported.
• Is it a payment processor issue? Occasionally, the problem might be with your payment provider. Check your e-mails and call your payment processor to see if they’re having technical issues with their payment gateway, and when they anticipate that these issues will be resolved. If you are a larger merchant, it’s worth checking connectivity or routing issues between your gateway and the acquiring bank. In some cases, a compliance event or security breach may be causing a hold.

Step 2: Communicate with Your Employees, Service Providers, and Customers

As soon as you’ve noticed a credit-card processing outage, let your employees know and tell your customers that you won’t be able to process cards temporarily via a website banner or group e-mail (for your online store) or by putting a sign on the door for a brick-and-mortar store.

If you haven’t already done so, call or e-mail your payment processor to let them know about the problem and ask for suggestions.

• Use clear communication
• Use social media to communicate
• Ensure your staff are briefed
• Ask your service provider for an incident reference number
• Be aware of consumer rights obligations

EU consumer-rights rules may require you to inform customers of any significant service interruptions affecting payments or refunds.

Step 3: Offer Alternative Payment Methods

While you find the problem and work on getting the credit card outage resolved (as much as it’s in your power to do so), offer customers alternative payment methods or find alternative ways to process card transactions in case your customers didn’t bring cash.

Source of Outage	Try a different card	Cash	Cheque ( less preferred)	Written promise of payment	Offline point-of-sale terminal	Manual card swipe machine ( not so common in modern terminals)	Virtual terminal on mobile with cellular data	Mobile wallet payment with cellular data	Electronic bank transfer	Go to another store location ( if you operate multi-site)
Widespread internet outage		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	Yes, with cellular data	Yes, if unaffected
Widespread electricity outage (including the internet router)		✔	✔	✔	Yes, with batteries or a generator	✔	✔	✔	Yes, with cellular data	Yes, if unaffected
Widespread mobile outage		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔			✔	Yes, if unaffected
Hardware malfunction		✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔	Yes, if unaffected
Software malfunction		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	Yes, if unaffected
Card network outage	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔		Yes, using a stored balance	✔
Payment processor outage		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔			✔

Swipe credit card machines. If you still have one, a credit card swipe machine is very useful for these kinds of situations. Simply place the card in the machine, swipe to make a carbon imprint, and fill out the form.

A written promise of payment. You can have customers make a promise of payment and have them pay with a card over the phone once your system is back online. However, this option is higher risk, and may not be appropriate in some jurisdictions

An offline point-of-sale system stores transaction data and processes the payments once the system is back online. If there is an electricity outage, you can power your offline POS terminals with a backup battery or generator.

Important risk note: With all of these methods, you introduce additional risk. The transaction may not be authorised immediately, you have no way to confirm whether the customers have sufficient funds in their bank accounts, and you could face chargeback risk if a payment declines later. Make sure you are fully aware of the risk as well as the liability with your processor. If you decide not to risk it and ask customers to return the next day, offer a coupon or discount code as a way of apologising for the inconvenience.

Security and Compliance Reminder:
If you ever need to manually record customer information, including card details during an outage, it is paramount that you treat that data with utmost security and in compliance with European regulations.

Under GDPR, PCI DSS v4.0, and EU payment regulations, you must ensure that any alternative or manual processes meet the following security standards:

• Use only PCI-certified systems and ensure encryption is maintained end-to-end ( avoid plain text). Keep any written details securely locked and access-restricted.
• Limit payment access to authorised and trained staff.
• Process and securely destroy the information as soon as payment is complete.
• Keep records of the outage or any event that required manual processing.
• Make sure that the payment provider, POS vendors, and gateway all comply with regulations.
• Conduct regular audits and staff training.

Respecting these steps ensures compliance with local laws and industry standards, avoiding fines while maintaining customer trust. If you don’t do these things and the card information is stolen, you could be sued for breaching the PCI data security standards.

Step 4: Catch Up on the Backlog of Orders

Once your credit card processing system is back online, you’ll need to work overtime to catch up and ensure all transactions are reconciled and all backlog cleared.

1. Start any affected machines back up, log in to accounts, process manually swiped credit card transactions, and allow offline transactions to process so that your payment data is up to date.
2. Call or e-mail customers to have them pay over the phone or use other systems and initiate card transactions.
3. Check merchant account settlement reports to ensure that no transactions were lost.
4. Conduct a post-incident review: determine causes, financial losses, and future improvements
   1. Debrief with your team, analyse the event, and plan for future credit card outages.
   2. Review the performance of your payment service provider during the outage. ( Response time, backup/failover assurance, SLA) Evaluate whether you need to negotiate terms.
5. Stay vigilant and increase monitoring if necessary.

The Only Failure Is a Failure to Prepare

While utility companies, credit card networks, and payment processors work around the clock to keep everything running smoothly, even the occasional short-term glitch could cost you valuable revenue and discourage customers from coming back.

To minimise the effects of credit card processing outages:

1. Ask prospective payment providers whether they’ve ever experienced a service outage and what they do to ensure that you can keep processing payments 24/7. Round-the-clock technical support should be included in your merchant services and exists precisely for situations like these.
2. Have backup equipment available at all times in case of widespread power outages.
3. For a brick-and-mortar store, consider having a manual cash register, mobile POS terminal, card payment forms, offline payment terminals, POS backup batteries, and perhaps a generator for critical transactions.Having a mobile device with cellular data and a virtual payment terminal allows you to accept credit cards on your phone while your regular system is offline.
4. For an online store, your main backup device for processing payments during a regional power and internet outage would be a mobile device connected to the internet via cellular data. As long as the outage doesn’t affect your payment gateway, international customers could keep making payments as usual. Also consider using an alternative payment gateway. You can configure it even in standby, allowing you to switch to it quickly.

Pre-Outage Preparation Checklist

When talking about a credit card outage, prevention is essential. This quick checklist will allow you to safeguard your business and keep your customers’ trust.

1. Choose a Reliable Provider: Make sure your provider has a proven track record of strong security and support.
2. Set Up Real-Time Monitoring: Use a tool that will send you instant notifications of issues and delays, allowing you to respond accordingly.
3. Build Redundancy: Implement backup payment gateways and failover systems that will allow transactions to continue even if your primary processor is down.
4. Have an Outage Response Plan: Create clear, detailed plans of action, communication steps, and alternative payment options to put into place during an outage.
5. Run Maintenance and Outage Drills: Test your plan regularly and adjust as needed so that everything runs smoothly during the real event.
6. Maintain Compliance: Make sure you are compliant with PCI DSS and other regulations of your location and industry.
7. Establish Recovery Procedures: Coordinate with your partners and staff to ensure that recovery procedures and responsibilities are clear.

While life isn’t always predictable, expecting the unexpected is the best way to avoid being taken by surprise when it happens. When you have a few pieces of backup equipment and partner with a reliable payment processor, a credit card processing outage should be—at most—a minor inconvenience.

 

Published: February 1, 2023
Last updated: December 22, 2025