Millions of users experienced significant disruption to their online payment services this morning as both PayPal and Venmo encountered an unexpected system outage.

Reports began flooding in shortly before 9 a.m. ET, with frustrated users citing their inability to send or receive payments through the popular digital platforms. Many also reported issues with logging into their accounts, indicating a widespread system failure.

The simultaneous nature of the outage for both services is attributable to PayPal’s ownership of Venmo, meaning that issues impacting the parent company’s infrastructure can cascade to its subsidiary.

Independent outage tracking sites, such as Downdetector, quickly mirrored user complaints, showing a dramatic spike in outage reports for both PayPal and Venmo starting around 9 a.m. ET. These reports highlighted the extensive reach of the technical difficulties.

Despite these widespread user reports, PayPal’s official status page initially indicated a disruption only in online and retail checkout services, while surprisingly listing Venmo’s status as “Operational,” a clear contradiction to user experiences.

By noon ET, functionality was largely restored across both platforms. A spokesperson for PayPal confirmed the resolution, stating simply that “PayPal and Venmo experienced a temporary interruption this morning that has since been resolved.”

During the period of disruption, personal attempts to use the services confirmed the reported issues. The Venmo mobile application, when attempting to process a payment, would continuously display a spinning progress indicator without completing the transaction for an extended period.

Similarly, a test transaction initiated through the PayPal website via a laptop browser appeared to process on the sender’s end, with the balance updating. However, the recipient never received notification of the payment, nor was their balance updated, indicating a complete failure in the transaction’s delivery despite superficial appearances.