Paying with a giro/credit card is still disrupted

Hans Christian Dirscherl

Since Tuesday (May 24th, 2022), some discounters and drugstore chains have not been able to pay by giro or credit card. Aldi Nord, Edeka and Rossmann, for example, are affected; but also, for example, the Munster tank museum. These problems still exist today.

That is the reason

The payment problems always arise when the H5000 model from the US manufacturer Verifone is used as the card payment terminal. According to Spiegel Online, a certificate error within certain versions of the software provided by Verifone is the reason for the disruption. In order to solve this problem, a software update must be installed, as the manufacturer Verifone reports. However, this requires manual intervention at the terminals. That would take some time. Until that happens, the Verifone terminals affected will be completely unavailable for all payment methods.

Cash card stolen: You must do this immediately!

Those H5000 terminals that are still working should never be unplugged or turned off. The devices should also not be restarted and the network connection must be maintained.

The financial service provider Concardis is trying to at least partially defuse the problem by replacing the card payment terminals.

The Verifone H5000 terminals are mainly used in Germany. According to the Tagesschau, however, the corresponding type only accounts for a small proportion of all devices used in Germany.

Customers should know that

Important for customers who cannot pay with their debit or credit card at the checkout: your card is fine and does not need to be replaced. The POS network operators are also not responsible for the disruption, as emphasized by the Federal Association of Electronic Cash Network Operators. The reason for the disruption in cashless payment lies exclusively with the Verifone terminals.

Aldi Süd, Lidl and the Rewe Group (Rewe, Penny, Toom Baumarkt) should not be affected by the problem, as reported by WDR.