Major Capital One Outage: Customers Locked Out of Accounts and Missing Paychecks for Days

Capital One has faced significant service disruptions since January 15, impacting customers’ access to their funds. The bank identified a problem with a service provider that hindered direct deposits, payments, and transfers. As a result, many customers have reported delays in receiving paychecks and issues with electronic bill payments.

By Thursday morning, nearly 3,400 outage reports were logged, a significant increase from about 2,100 earlier that day. Most complaints originated from the eastern United States, though issues have been noted as far west as Arizona and California. Notably, approximately 90% of all reported problems were related to deposits, with account balance visibility and online login issues making up 7% and 3%, respectively.

Capital One expects to resolve most issues by Friday, with the majority of affected customers regaining access to their accounts in the morning. In a communication to users, the company assured that delayed transactions, including deposits, would be processed once systems were back online.

Customer frustration has surfaced on social media, particularly regarding the prolonged delay in restoring direct deposit functionality. One user expressed the urgency of the situation, highlighting the conflict between the inability to access funds and the ongoing obligation of monthly bills.

This incident marks the first major outage for Capital One in recent times; it recalls similar challenges experienced by competitors such as Chase and Wells Fargo last summer. Those issues, while not publicly detailed, were generally resolved within a day or two.