Bank app or online banking not working: what to do, and where to complain (Canada)

Is it the bank, or only your app?

The service page on this site shows an unofficial status based on visitor reports submitted over the last 24 hours, measured against typical report volumes. Absence of recent reports means only that users have not submitted a report—it does not prove the service works.

Find the bank's official status page—the service page here will link to it if one is available. The page also includes a small note about the bank's website: whether it replied, was slow, could not be reached, or could not be checked. This is informational only. A responding website does not prove the service is operational, and a website that blocks requests is not necessarily offline.

View the bank's official help and contact pages through the service page to check whether the bank has published information about the problem.

• Check the service page on this site, the official status page, and the official help pages.

What to do right away

Try accessing the service on another device or using a different connection method (for example, cellular data instead of home internet) to determine if the problem moves with you or stays with one specific setup. Then switch the access method: if you are using the app, open the website instead; if you are using the website, try the app.

Read the bank's official help materials. You can use the report button on the service page here to report a problem once per hour. You will also see an hour-by-hour timeline for the past day, and a map that shows the places the reports were sent from. If many people report the same thing at the same time, the problem may not be only yours.

• Try another device or connection, try the app if the website fails or vice versa, check the official help pages, and consider a report if you think it is a bank issue.

Who can confirm a problem, and how to reach the bank

The bank's official status page is where the bank itself publishes status information. The service page on this site points to it. The service page also links to the bank's help and contact pages. This site's reports are unofficial and reflect user observations.

If it is not resolved: where to complain

In Canada, the FCAC (Financial Consumer Agency of Canada) assists with complaints to banks and other federally regulated financial entities. The FCAC publishes the complaint-handling procedures for federally regulated financial institutions, which you can search to find your bank's process.

To start, prepare your complaint and follow your bank's process. It lays out the steps for complaining to a bank or another federally regulated financial institution, and what to do next.

• Prepare your complaint and work through your bank's process first.