Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Épargne warn of double card debits

Customers of Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Épargne have been warned on Thursday, 29 October 2026, of an incident that could cause some card payments to be debited twice. A notice in the banking app says the problem affects another French bank and that a correction is under way.

The message reads, in translation: an incident at another French bank "is likely to cause a double debit of certain card payments. A correction is in progress."

Unclear whether money actually left accounts twice

According to a bank adviser, payments may simply appear twice in the transaction history without the money being taken twice. The BPCE group has not officially confirmed this, and its notice explicitly refers to a double debit.

Card payments are not the only issue. Several users report trouble making bank transfers. One source points to a malfunction of Sécur'Pass, the authentication system used to approve transfers and some online payments, though this has not been confirmed. One Caisse d'Épargne customer said an instant transfer was accepted by his bank, yet the amount had still not reached the recipient's account.

BPCE, the parent group of both banks, says only a very small number of customers are affected and that the problem should be resolved quickly. It confirms the fault originates at another French bank but has not named it or explained the cause.

A familiar pattern

French banks have faced similar problems before. In January 2026, customers of Banque Populaire, Caisse d'Épargne, BoursoBank and Crédit Coopératif saw erroneous payments on their accounts. That incident came from Monext, a payments subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. In a statement dated 30 January, the group said a technical fault had caused transactions already recorded between 2023 and 2025 to be processed a second time.

Nothing so far shows that the 29 October incident has the same source. Until the correction is applied, affected customers are advised to monitor their account activity, watch for payments shown twice and report any unusual debit to their bank.