Several websites suddenly not working with Nationwide debit card?

booneruk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098385#Comment_82098385

This got me interested. I can't recall banks being 'taken offline' by cyber attacks, so I did some searching - apparently it happened to Lloyds in 2017, so I think we can put that into the "quite unlikely" category since there's been one such event during ~28years of online banking.

Usually it's internal IT failures.

Still, always wise to have a couple of current accounts with different organisations. Thankfully those switching bonuses have helped me to have more than a few accounts 😁

Barkin

It's commonplace now to read in the press of Bank X being down or under a cyber attack,

Is it ?

StewedApple

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098402#Comment_82098402

I'd agree that the majority of systems failures are likely to be self-inflicted (and a lot of cyber attacks do not make headlines). TSB/Santander managed to shoot themselves in the foot quite effectively in 2018 and nearly destroyed the entire business - in the meantime many of their customers suffered weeks of pain - I think they were fined about £50million. I had an account with them - but I also had a Plan B.

The problem with IT is it's fine right up until it isn't, and at that time an account somewhere else with £10 in it and an attached savings account with a bit more which can be transferred-in suddenly looks very attractive.

If you have the wherewithal I'd recommend it.

booneruk

(and a lot of cyber attacks do not make headlines).

Of course, I work with websites, and they are always subject to attacks of varying sophistication

However, are you privy to a secret news feed that makes you certain cyber attacks have led to banking systems going down, other than the 2017 event I mentioned?

StewedApple

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098511#Comment_82098511

Yes - you just may not be looking in the right place.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642863/AI-cyber-attack-threatens-global-financial-crisis-warns-International-Monetary-Fund

Barkin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098811#Comment_82098811

Hmmm...lots of "could" and "might"...

Could you link to some instances of these events that have actually happened? Shouldn't be difficult if, as you claim, they're commonplace in the press these days.

Rob5342

Do the addresses you have registered with those sites match the address that Nationwide has on file for you? When my daughter started university she found that her Nationwide card didn't work when she ordered things to her University accommodation as the addresses didn't match. It's not surprising that they didn't work but she just got a payment failed message with no explanation as to why, it was only when I told her to put our home addresses as the billing address thst it worked. I know you said it worked before, but could there be a slight mismatch in the addresses.

It's always a good idea to have second current account and debit card with a different bank in case something goes wrong.

channedTatum

@Rob5342 Yes, this was one of the first things I considered, but every detail is correct. Furthermore, there have been no changes in terms of address or other details over that period, so definitely not that, unfortunately. Appreciate the idea though.

To all who've commented; as a general update (and again, thanks for all the comments), I'm getting a bit further with at least one of the vendors. Their customer service has confirmed two points:

1. The problem is happening at the 3D Secure stage in the transaction service/system they're using.
2. Interestingly, they did recently have another issue with the same service/system, but that was regarding Paysafe payments apparently.

Thereafter, they advised 'ensuring that 3D Secure is enabled on the card', at which point I explained that not only was it enabled by default, but furthermore I used it yesterday (on Sainsbury's site, before I responded to them) and sure enough 3D Secure activated and it worked fine on the exact same card, then after that I tried a transaction on the relevant site (Kinguin) once more and sure enough it again failed in exactly the same way, pretty much instantly.

Clearly then, this has something to do with the recently updated system which has some sort of bug in it. As someone who works with software updates all the time (let's just say it involves Microsoft software and leave it at that), this doesn't surprise me in the slightest, but I have no idea what their mechanism is for getting the payment processor to fix it, but the fact they did acknowledge the system did have a 'problem' with another payment type previously does give me hope at least.

One final note: I think this has nothing to do with card details, security concerns or anything rational/logical like that, and is presenting (to me) as a simple (from a user point of view) code glitch whereby I'm not actually seeing the 3D Secure stage for some reason, because it's failing to display properly/at all, at which point the system recognizes that 3D Secure has 'failed' and then times out/returns failed message as designed.
The actual underlying technical issue could itself either be extremely simple or inexplicably convoluted, but software problems are software problems regardless of the content/context, and to me this clearly is one.

Anyway, I'll confirm here any updates, just glad I can still get my groceries at least!
(And yes, I'm looking into a second card, though I'd be surprised if the glitch is that specific, but anything is possible…)

StewedApple

To all who've commented; as a general update (and again, thanks for
all the comments), I'm getting a bit further with at least one of the
vendors. Their customer service has confirmed two points:

The problem is happening at the 3D Secure stage in the transaction service/system they're using.

Interestingly,
they did recently have another issue with the same service/system, but
that was regarding Paysafe payments apparently.

This does sound as though it's well outside your influence, and much more about systems' issues.

pinkdon

Not sure if it’s connected but I’m also with Nationwide and my card was declined today when trying to reserve a pair of lightbulbs from Argos. Straight away, no security page just “payment failed”. Luckily I also have a Chase card which went through without a hitch, especially as it was the only pair left in my local store! Never had issues before so now left wondering why it wouldn’t accept that card, only £4 so not high value by any means.