FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Credit unions across the country continued working through the weekend to restore banking services after a cooling-system failure at a data center used by core processor Sharetec knocked hundreds of institutions offline, with some credit unions reporting their systems were again operating while others remained in the company’s recovery queue.
The disruption began Sept. 15 and affected core processing, online and mobile banking, debit cards and other services to varying degrees at credit unions using Sharetec. The company said the outage resulted from physical equipment problems following a failure of cooling infrastructure at a third-party data center and was not a cyberattack or data breach.
The outage comes at the same time TruStage continues to work to rebuild its systems, which were compromised by a cyberattack.
Sharetec’s recovery efforts continued through the weekend, with evidence Saturday that a growing number of credit unions had regained access to their core systems and, in some cases, online and mobile banking. CUs across the U.S. found their names in the headlines as numerous outlets reported the outage.
Meeting Postponed
The disruption was serious enough that Sharetec postponed its 2026 Users Conference, which had been scheduled for Sept. 20-23 in Denver.
“We understand the disruption this will cause in your travel and plans, but our main priority right now remains our customers,” Sharetec said in a notice on its conference website.
Some Credit Unions Back Online
The restoration process has been occurring in stages rather than simultaneously across Sharetec’s customer base.
Illinois State Credit Union reported early Saturday that its system, including home and mobile banking, was back online. CEO Thom Ewen cautioned members that not all transactions from the preceding days were immediately appearing and said employees would work to bring account balances up to date.
Ewen told WGLT that the credit union had been without access to nearly all its core banking systems from about 11 a.m. Tuesday until 2 a.m. Saturday.
“The scale of this disruption was unprecedented for us,” Ewen told the station.
Credit Union For All in Bloomington, Ill., also reported Saturday that its core processing system had been restored, according to WGLT. The credit union said employees were verifying transactions and account accuracy and would post transactions in the order received. Online banking, however, remained unavailable at the time of the update.
Thrive Credit Union in Indiana reported Saturday morning that its online and mobile banking connections had been restored. The credit union subsequently warned members that the system was operating slowly because of the large number of members attempting to log in at the same time.
Thrive said regular debit-card limits also had been restored.
In Florida, Pompano Beach City Employees Credit Union reported Friday that employees had regained access to its core system and could view balances and transactions. Recent activity was still being posted and reconciled, however, and online and mobile banking remained unavailable at the time of its update.
The credit union said it had provided members with more than $28,000 in cash during the disruption.
Others Still Waiting
Restoration remained incomplete elsewhere.
Municipal Employees Credit Union in Oklahoma City said in its latest posted update that it was still waiting for Sharetec to restore access to its live environment and remained in the company’s restoration queue.
MECU said incoming ACH deposits were pending and would post after its live system was restored. Debit and ATM cards remained available under offline limits, while online and mobile banking were unavailable.
The credit union said Sharetec had successfully returned some institutions to service during the preceding several days.
“As soon as Sharetec restores our access, we will begin validating account and transaction data, and our staff will be available throughout the weekend if necessary to get our systems back up and running as quickly and accurately as possible,” MECU told members.
Four Corners Federal Credit Union in New Mexico said Saturday that it was closed because of the Sharetec outage, although home banking through its website was available. Its mobile application remained unavailable.
Corry Federal Credit Union in Pennsylvania said Friday afternoon that it had not yet received notice from Sharetec that its system could be restored and consequently would remain closed Saturday. The credit union said it was hoping to resume normal operations Monday, but in a notice on its website Sunday is said “Everything has been processed: and “Debit cards should now be working again!”
In Louisiana, Iberville Federal Credit Union was forced to close Friday because of the outage, according to WAFB and WBRZ. The credit union told members it had been informed that affected institutions were being restored in batches.
What Happened
Thrive Credit Union provided one of the most detailed public explanations of the failure.
According to the credit union, cooling infrastructure at the data center failed Sept. 15, causing temperatures inside the facility to rise rapidly. Some data-storage equipment subsequently malfunctioned, and failover processes did not have enough time to complete.
The result was the loss of connectivity to Sharetec systems for more than 280 credit unions nationwide, Thrive said.
Other credit unions have described the number of institutions affected as approximately 300 or more, indicating that the exact scope may depend on which Sharetec services and systems are counted.
Badger Globe Credit Union in Wisconsin, for example, said more than 300 institutions were involved and that Sharetec was restoring credit unions individually and checking systems before returning them to service.
Sharetec’s recovery strategy has prioritized restoring core processing before fully returning digital banking services.
Thrive said Sharetec informed customers that online banking would be among the last services restored. According to the credit union, Sharetec wanted to restore core systems across affected institutions before devoting resources to online banking and normal debit-card limits.
That sequencing helps explain why some credit unions reported Saturday that employees could again access core account information even while members remained unable to use online or mobile banking.
No Evidence of Cyberattack
Credit unions repeatedly stressed that the failure was an availability incident rather than a cybersecurity breach.
Thrive said there had been no unauthorized access to systems or member data and that member funds and account records remained intact. MECU similarly said the incident was not a data breach, cyberattack or ransomware event.
Badger Globe said Sharetec had confirmed member information had not been accessed or compromised and advised members that they did not need to change online-banking passwords because of the outage.
The disruption nevertheless created significant problems for members attempting to check balances, receive payroll deposits, withdraw money or make payments.
At Illinois State Credit Union, debit cards, automatic payments and direct deposits continued processing during the outage even though employees and members could not access the systems used to view balances and conduct many transactions, Ewen told WGLT.
Reimbursement Available
Illinois State said members could seek reimbursement consideration for fees incurred with outside companies because of the outage. Credit Union For All similarly said it would cover or reimburse certain late and overdraft fees resulting from the disruption.
The recovery process also requires credit unions to reconcile transactions accumulated while systems were unavailable. Institutions that have returned online have warned members that displayed balances may initially be incomplete as transactions are posted and verified.
As of the weekend, Sharetec had not announced on its public website a systemwide time for full restoration. Its decision to postpone its annual conference underscored the continuing recovery effort, with the company saying its immediate focus remained on customers.
