Bank outages Australia: CommBank disruption hits payments as customers report app access problems

Bank outages Australia became a major talking point late Tuesday into early Wednesday, January 28, 2026, ET, after Commonwealth Bank customers reported widespread trouble using CommBank services. Many users said they could not reliably check balances or complete transfers and card payments through the mobile app, a disruption that arrived during a busy banking window for everyday spending and bill payments.

Commonwealth Bank acknowledged a brief outage and advised affected customers to log out and log back in as service recovered. The bank said access returned for customers within a short period, though frustration lingered for people who needed immediate transactions to go through.

The reason for the change has not been stated publicly.

CommBank outage timeline and what customers experienced

The most intense reports clustered around a short period that began late Tuesday night in the United States, corresponding to Wednesday afternoon in Australia. Customers described failed logins, slow loading, and payment functions that would not complete, a pattern consistent with a temporary service interruption rather than a branch-level issue.

Commonwealth Bank indicated services were restored by roughly 12:45 a.m. ET on January 28. Even after a system comes back, some users can see lingering effects such as delayed balance updates, stalled transfer confirmations, or repeated prompts to re-authenticate.

Some specifics have not been publicly clarified, including whether any particular product lines such as business banking portals or merchant services were affected at the same scale as consumer mobile banking.

How banks handle an outage when apps and payments stop working

When a major bank’s digital services wobble, the failure point is often not a single screen in the app, but a chain that includes identity checks, session tokens, core account systems, and payment rails. If one link becomes overloaded or misconfigured, customers may be able to open the app but fail when they attempt high-demand actions like transfers, card token refreshes, or real-time payment requests.

In practice, banks try to stabilize service in layers. Engineers may reduce load, reroute traffic, restart affected services, or temporarily limit some functions to keep core access available. Customer-facing advice like logging out and back in can help because it forces a fresh session and clears stuck authentication states, but it does not solve a deeper backend incident on its own.

Banks also commonly publish maintenance windows and service advisories so customers can plan around known downtime. Separately, unplanned incidents typically trigger internal incident response, post-incident reviews, and changes aimed at preventing repeats.

ANZ payment delays widen the outage conversation

The disruption did not unfold in isolation. ANZ also flagged issues affecting payment processing, including delays tied to salary and pension transactions. The bank said the issue was resolved, while noting that a small number of payments could still require follow-up checks in the coming days.

For customers, that combination is what makes bank outages feel bigger than a temporary login problem: missed payroll timing, delayed bills, and uncertainty about whether a payment actually went through can ripple into fees, late notices, and real stress.

Further specifics were not immediately available about how many transactions were delayed, how long the longest delays lasted, or whether any customers will receive fee relief linked to timing issues.

Who is affected most when banking goes offline

The impact lands unevenly. Retail customers trying to pay for groceries, fuel, prescriptions, or appointments often feel the outage first because they need a simple yes-or-no transaction in real time. Small businesses and sole traders are also exposed, especially when incoming payments or transfers are time-sensitive and cash flow is tight. People relying on scheduled payments such as wages, pensions, or benefit deposits can be hit hardest when delays cause downstream consequences like missed rent or late utility payments.

Even brief outages can be disruptive when they occur during high-volume hours, because the uncertainty is as damaging as the downtime. Customers do not just lose access, they lose confidence in whether their money will move when it needs to.

Practical steps customers can take during a bank outage

If an app or online banking appears down, the safest approach is to avoid repeated rapid-fire payment attempts that can create duplicate pending transactions. Logging out and back in, switching between mobile app and web access, and waiting a short interval before retrying can reduce errors. If you must pay immediately, having a backup method, such as a secondary card, cash, or an alternative account, can prevent a single-point failure from derailing essential purchases.

For businesses, keeping a small buffer of liquidity and having a contingency for taking payments can reduce disruption. For households, building a modest “outage cushion” for essentials, even if small, helps in moments like these.

The next verifiable milestone is any post-incident update from Commonwealth Bank and ANZ describing what caused the disruption and what changes are being made, alongside ongoing service-status updates through Thursday, January 29, 2026, ET, as systems are monitored for stability.