BNZ has apologised to customers after its systems went down today, leaving thousands of people unable to use its services during the Easter holiday.

Services were cut this morning, including access to online banking channels and transactions using BNZ cards.

In a statement made this afternoon, the bank said its “team was working hard to implement a fix to the system issues we’ve been experiencing today.”

Customers, who had their card declined while using PayWave were urged to try inserting their card into the terminal.

But that was not a solution for 100% of transactions.

At 3.53, the bank released another statement.

“Our systems are now operational – customers can now access online channels and complete transactions using their BNZ cards. Our branches will remain closed for the remainder of the day to allow branch staff to assist contact centre colleagues in serving customers on the phone.”

Comments on the Bank’s Facebook page were less than complimentary.

“Atrocious, disgusting business to do this on New Zealanders on holiday. Where’s our customer service gone? Had no notification of this until I was trying to pay for groceries. Simply holding people away from their own money is a problem and I hope you have a good hard think about and a good strategy to apologise for this ridiculous inconvenience” said one comment.

Another customer said “to make things worse, the BNZ home page only owned up to online banking and the app being down – it did not mention debit or credit cards not working at retailers. This was poor communication. Not everyone uses Facebook. Given the bank has my mobile number – and others – and is never shy to get in touch, surely it’s possible to send out a broadcast text alerting people to the problem? Disgruntled customer who is able to shift banks if this sort of thing repeats.”