IDG Contributor Network: Green Dot's Walmart outage should scare all retailers

When shoppers at Walmart ran into a wide range of problems using their Green Dot/Walmart MoneyCard cards at Walmart—including checking balancing and accessing funds—last week, it was a grim reminder of how interconnected the payments world is these days and how retailers will be blamed no matter whose fault it is.

On Wednesday (May 18), the blame game began. Walmart blamed Green Dot, which handles transactions and processing for the Walmart MoneyCard, a reloadable prepaid card. Green Dot then took to Twitter to blame MasterCard and specifically MasterCard Payment Transaction Services.

"Our transaction processing partner (MasterCard) is experiencing slowdowns in some of their systems and, as a result, we are currently unable to provide card balances online or over the phone. However, cardholders can get their balances through our mobile apps. We hope to have the balance inquiry functionality restored shortly," the Green Dot tweet said. "We understand the important role we play in the daily financial lives of our loyal customers and apologize for any inconveniences this may cause."

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