It appears that on Sunday HSBC had some problems with a server which resulted in a multi-hour disruption to credit card authorisations and ATM transactions being accepted. However HSBC reported the problem as “minor.” The question that is raised to me, is, was the problem actually major, hence the comments on this post on The Register (see below.) Or by the same token, was the problem actually minor and people are generally always having problems with authorisations that they just put down to this incident on this occasion?

I personally have problems all the time with the new Chip & PIN scheme that’s been introduced into the UK. I and other people have had problems with authorisations going through with the new system. Only after wiping the chip 14 times and spitting on it repeatedly seems to cure the problem. I just withdraw cash from the cashpoint now and rarely use Chip & PIN.

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