Customers of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) faced difficulties authenticating card payments on Friday, as the bank’s app began experiencing issues loading and approving transactions. The outage, which started around mid-morning, left many shoppers unable to complete purchases during one of the busiest retail days of the year. FNB’s card-authentication requests either timed out or returned an error message indicating that the issue was under investigation.
The issue impacted both online and in-store payments that required app-based approval. Users trying to log in to the app also experienced intermittent server errors and repeated session failures. According to outage tracker Downdetector, there was a significant increase in reports starting around 9:30 AM, indicating widespread disruption.
As the app remained unreliable, customers quickly began switching to alternative methods of authentication or payment. These simple methods helped many people get around the problems caused by the failed approval system.
Workarounds for Payment Disruptions
One common solution was FNB’s fallback one-time PIN (OTP) system. This system automatically triggered when the app didn’t respond, allowing customers to complete purchases that would have otherwise been blocked. Other providers use physical card machines and contactless tap payments, which often do not require in-app verification for lower-value transactions.
The app sometimes creates duplicate pending requests. To avoid double payments, retailers advised users not to repeat failed transactions. Some shoppers who were able to log in briefly approved queued transactions before the app timed out again. Others used different cards or mobile wallets to prevent disruptions.
The outage caused delays and confusion at checkout points, particularly for online orders that needed immediate approval. Retailers reported that many customers abandoned their carts when authentication processes stalled, prompting them to offer guidance on which payment methods remained functional. The fallback one-time password (OTP) system proved a reliable workaround, even though it adds some extra steps to the process.
FNB had not yet issued a formal update during the disruption, leaving customers to rely on trial-and-error and tips shared by peers to navigate the situation. As Black Friday traffic surged, the outage underscored the extent to which South Africans depend on app-based authentication for daily payments and how quickly users adapt when these systems fail.