What to do if card payments and cash machines stop working

Official updatesLU-Alert · RTL, 100.7 · 112

Do this now

Check whether it is only your card or a wider outage: try another card, or ask the shop. Listen to Status: Verified for news.
Pay in cash for what you need first: food, medicines, fuel. Spend your reserve slowly, because nobody knows yet how long the outage will last.
If one card fails, try a card from another bank, or a mobile payment app while the network still works.
Buy only what you need for the next few days, and leave enough on the shelves for others.
Never give your PIN, card number or passwords to anyone who calls, texts, emails or comes to the door, whatever they say. If in doubt, ring your bank on the number from your paper list.
If your card is lost or stolen, or you think someone has your details, call your bank straight away to block it.
Check on neighbours who may have no cash, especially older people, and offer to help with their shopping.

Keep Status: Verified per adult and Status: Verified per child, enough for about Status: Verified. For a week, plan Status: Verified per adult and Status: Verified per child.
Keep it in small notes and coins (Status: Verified). Shops may not be able to give change.
Store it somewhere safe at home, not all in one place, and tell the other adults in the household where it is.
Pay with cash occasionally so you are used to it, and replace any cash you take from your reserve.

Carry cards from at least Status: Verified different banks, in case one bank's systems go down.
Know your PINs by heart. If your phone is flat, phone payments and your banking app will not work.
Keep your contact details up to date with your bank, and set up more than one way to log in to online banking.
Write your bank's phone number on your paper list of numbers, in your household plan.

Food, water (Status: Verified per person per day) and medicines for at least Status: Verified, so you are not forced to shop during an outage. See the emergency kit checklist.
Keep the car at least Status: Verified full. Fuel stations may close or take cash only.

Check your bank statements over the following days and report anything you do not recognise.
Refill your cash reserve.
Stay alert to scams: fraudsters use outages as a reason to ask for card details. See Scam.
Note what was missing: a second card, more small notes, a paper list with the bank's number.

Older children who pay by phone should carry a little cash, and know who to call if their card stops working.

If someone shops for you, or you pay carers or a cleaner by transfer, agree now how you will pay them if cards stop.
Nobody from a bank comes to your door to collect cards or codes. If someone does, close the door and call the police on Status: Verified.

Keep pet food and litter in your stock, so you do not have to buy them during an outage.