The country's payment system was down for half an hour – the nation experienced, for the first time in decades, nothing being deducted from it

A glitch during routine maintenance at Reiknistofa bankanna, the banks' computing centre, meant that yesterday payments stopped going through between accounts for about half an hour. In the meantime the nation faced an unfamiliar situation: its money just sat there and nobody took anything from it.

“This was very uncomfortable for everyone,” says a spokesperson for the computing centre. “We got calls from people who thought something serious had happened, because their account balance hadn't gone down in twenty minutes.”

The banks asked customers not to repeat payments while the outage lasted. Halldór, 63, read the notice too late. “I just kept pressing ‘pay’ over and over,” he says. “I thought the system was checking whether I meant it.” Halldór now has credit with his energy company until 2031 and has received a card from the company thanking him for his loyalty.

Psychologists say many people experienced what is known as interest withdrawal anxiety. “People are so used to something always happening in the background, indexation, fees and subscriptions, that the silence becomes overwhelming,” says a psychologist specialising in financial trauma.

By two o'clock the system was back up, and all late fees, service fees and transaction fees that had piled up in the meantime were collected in one go. A spokesperson for one of the banks says customers showed great relief.

The computing centre has promised that nothing similar will happen again. The banks have also looked into whether a special disruption fee can be charged for the thirty minutes people were left in peace.