BB&T says an equipment malfunction has caused 'major inconvenience' to customers

BB&T logo (Photo: BB&T)

8:00 P.M. UPDATE: It remained unclear Friday evening if all BB&T account information had been restored, or if the malfunction was resolved.

The BB&T location on Main Street in Greenville was quiet Friday afternoon. David McGahee, a BB&T customer of 10 years appeared calm as he tried unsuccessfully to withdraw money from the bank's ATM.

"They're obviously very aware of it and remorseful. I think they're doing the best they can, honestly," Mcgahee said. He said he was able to purchase lunch with his debit card earlier in the day, but could not check his account balance without visiting a branch.

Other customers on social media had more positive thoughts.

You can’t always avoid issues, but you can show crisis leadership. Proud of BB&T handing a tough situation.

— Tariq Scott Bokhari (@FinTechInnov8r) February 23, 2018

But others were critical of the company, as frustration grew on payday.

Telling people to calm down is like telling people to relax while the roof is burning over their heads! 1 cpu failure shouldn’t take 2 days to fix as big as this bank is. This has happened b4 with bbt and with all the money they take, a backup plan should’ve been in place in IT.

— Cheeks (@SeeCheeksKill) February 23, 2018

I'm worried about the state of my direct deposit. I know it's redundant but just send out a tweet every 15 nothing to report lol. Makes people ponder their worst fears less.

— Peter Rabbit (@Rabbitholehell) February 23, 2018

3:30 P.M. UPDATE: Some BB&T locations will be extending their hours to help customers with questions. The company's main office in Greenville will remain open one additional hour until 7 p.m. tonight, an employee confirmed. The office is located at 1 N. Main St.

2 P.M. UPDATE: BB&T announced its automated phone service and ATMs are available. Account information has not been fully updated from Thursday.

"We expect those balances and transactions to become current later today," a Facebook post on the company's account stated.

The company did not say if users are able to access their accounts online or through their mobile app.

A call to BB&T's spokesman was not immediately returned.



Banking customers with BB&T cannot access their online bank accounts and other digital services because of a reported equipment malfunction.

As of late Friday morning, the malfunction affected online banking, mobile banking and BB&T's automated customer service telephone line. ATMs were also affected by the malfunction, but those services were made available by late morning, according to statements made by the company.

BB&T Vice President of Corporate Communications David White said the malfunction occurred in a data center, rendering many of BB&T's services inoperable into late Friday morning. He said company was already "well into the process" of fixing the problem.

"At this time, we have no reason to believe this issue is related to cybersecurity," White said.

A statement on the company's website said customers can use ATMs, debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards. BB&T will work with customers who were charged service fees or experienced other problems due to the malfunction, White said.

"We understand this is a major inconvenience to our customers," he added.

We are so sorry, and we’re working very hard to restore your services as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your patience and support. We will continue to provide updates here and on our website. (4 of 4)

— BB&T (@BBT) February 23, 2018

BB&T is keeping customers updated and answering questions through social media.

White has not yet said how many customers or branches in the Upstate have been affected.

The company has now apologized several times and says it's "committed to making this right." BB&T will reimburse fees directly related to the outage, a Facebook post on the company's account read.

The company has received more than 1,000 public comments on social media about the failure. Some people have expressed frustration about the situation, while others are more understanding.

BB&T is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company first announced the malfunction Thursday evening.

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