Breaking: Mastercard reportedly down due to 'global issue'

Shoppers across Australia experienced difficulties with their Mastercard payments on Saturday afternoon, according to reports. The multinational card provider revealed that the issue stemmed from a scheduled system update, which resulted in declined card transactions. Mastercard assured that all systems are now functioning as expected.

Reports of the payment problems surfaced from various Australian states, with some customers encountering issues while using Apple Pay, withdrawing cash, or utilizing Mastercard travel cards. Commbank confirmed the situation was due to a global Mastercard issue, which has since been resolved.

One customer, Jackie Wells from Victoria, expressed her frustration when both her cards were declined while attempting to purchase groceries. She and her husband ended up leaving their shopping in the store's cool storage area and departed without completing the transaction. Other shoppers were also seen exiting the establishment in a state of dissatisfaction due to their inability to pay for their purchases.

The payment issue was reported by over 1,700 users on Downdetector at 3pm on Saturday, a number that dropped to 173 two hours later. The most frequently reported problems involved fund transfers and mobile banking.