Guide

Card readers down? What to do at the register

Short answer: When card readers are down at a store:

Ask whether it's just this store's system or cards everywhere.
Pay with cash or another way the store is accepting. Ready.gov says "ATMs and credit cards may not work during a disaster."
Keep your receipt, and check your statement for the next week, because payments taken during an outage sometimes post late or twice.

We don't run a live outage tracker, so we can't tell you whether card readers are down today. Check the store, or your card company's official website or app.

At the register

1Ask what they're accepting. Some stores switch to cash-only. Others keep a paper tab for regulars, or ask you to come back later.
2Pay cash if you can. Ready.gov says to keep small bills on hand because cards may not work in a disaster. If you have none on you, you may be leaving without what you came for.We may earn a commission if you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you.See cash boxes in the Shop →
3Know that tap and phone wallets won't help. If the store's terminal or its payment provider is down, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and tap cards fail too. They run on the same system.
4If they offer to take the card "offline," it may post later. Some terminals can store a payment and send it through when the connection returns. That's normal, but hold on to your receipt.
5Don't read your full card number out loud or write it on a paper form for a stranger. If a store needs your card details on paper, it's safer to pay another way or come back.

Afterward

Check your statement for about a week. Look for missing receipts, charges posted days late, and the same purchase charged twice.
If a charge is wrong, call your card company right away. CFPB says to call the card company and tell them about the problem right away, and you can still dispute a charge you've already paid. For debit cards, CFPB says you may have extra protections under federal law, and to tell your bank within 60 days of the statement that shows an unauthorized withdrawal.
Be careful who you talk to. The FTC says scammers often update their tactics "to keep up with the latest news or trends," and that a text can look like it's from "a company you know or trust, like a bank or a credit card or utility company". Our advice: call the number on the back of your card, not a number someone sends you.

Is it the store, or the card network?

You don't need a status website to tell.

Ask the cashier whether it's just their system or cards in general.
Try one other store nearby that uses a different checkout. If it works there, the problem was the first store's terminal.
Check the news on a battery radio if many stores are down at once, or the power is out too. Ready.gov says a power outage may close stores, gas stations, ATMs and banks.

If cards are failing at store after store, plan for it to last. Switch to the multi-day card network outage plan.

If it lasts more than a day

A reader that's down for minutes is an inconvenience. If it lasts for days across many stores, that's a card network outage. Switch to your home cash, keep store trips short, and see the full guide.

We may earn a commission if you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you.

No cash at home yet? See cash boxes in the Shop →

If card readers go down while you're holiday shopping

Carry some small bills. Ready.gov says to keep small bills on hand because cards may not work. See how much cash to keep at home.
Have a second way to pay. A card from a different card network (say, Visa and Mastercard) may help if only one network is having trouble.
Write a short paper list. If you can buy only a few things with the cash on you, you'll know which ones matter.
If the ATM is down too, see bank app or ATM down.

What to buy