‘Sign of the times’: Bank of America outage could become the new normal
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The recent Bank of America outage caused panic and outrage in some of Bank of America’s customers who saw zero balances in their accounts, some experts say it could become increasingly more common as technology advances.
“I think some of this instability is the price that we pay for convenience,” Fresno Financial Advisor Brian Ullmann said. “Unfortunately, it’s a little bit of a sign of the times.”
Ullmann says outages have become more and more common even outside of financial institutions. He says airlines and telecommunications agencies have also fallen victim to “outages.”
Ullmann says modern outages occur when websites are inaccessible or lacking information that would otherwise exist on the page.
“These outages, I would say, [are] almost like a power outage,” Ullmann said. “Their digital systems aren’t working.”
Ullmann says some of the outages can be caused by cyber security and for the most part are normal and can be dealt with quickly, while other outages can potentially last longer than customers are comfortable with.
“That’s the unnerving part here. Most of the time these things get ironed out without any lasting trouble,” Ullmann said. “Sometimes it takes a little bit longer.”
Ullmann says regardless people should expect future outages, and this event provides an opportunity for people to take an inventory of their finances and prepare by having multiple accounts and even keeping cash.
Bank of America responded to the outage with a statement.
Some clients are experiencing an issue accessing their accounts and balance information today. These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Bank of America
As for any missed payments due to the outage, Ullmann says customers should contact Bank of America directly.
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