Card denied - Is anyone else running into this?

In the past couple of weeks we have had some of our credit card purchases denied by the credit card issued. A couple were for large amounts $1,000 - $2,000 but most were in the tens of dollars range. It is inconvenient and frustrating. All of these purchases were with companies we have long histories with. Some have these purchases have been in brick and mortar stores but most have been online. Our credit scores are very high. Are you running into this too, or is the credit universe just singling us out for abuse?

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No. The last time a made a major purchase (MacBook Pro) my card asked me by email if this was legit. Clicked the button, the purchase went through.

The Captain

Once, about a month ago, at the grocery store we always shop at. Ran the card a second time and it went through though.

No credit card issues here.

DB2

Yes, i have experienced this with one of my cards. i get denied, then i get a text from the bank asking me to respond YES or NO if it was an intended transaction and if it was to put it through again.

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Only once, years ago. Went in for a flu vax. Tried to use the card and denied. Went home, called the card company. The card company said the purchase was at a place I did not usually shop, so they sent me a text to authorize it.

Of course, I don’t have a cell phone, so could not receive a “text”.

Steve

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If it were me, I’d phone the credit card company and ask what the problem is.

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This is what they used to do before they invented the Internet. The seller would place the call. After talking to the card company they would had me the phone and the card company would ask me some questions to validate my ownership of the card.

The Captain
Who needs the Internet?

Captain, I don’t mean the person should phone the card company at the point of sale. I mean: phone the credit card company at your convenience and ask why you’re experiencing this problem. I find that talking rather than texting or emailing enables you to get the problem fixed more efficiently and effectively.

I experience this periodically with f2f purchases. It usually resolves itself fairly quickly.

Here’s an outlier with an online experience though.

August 2022, I called the CC for some minor stuff, one of which was to report that I intended to travel over the next month.
The CC representative casually mentioned that the name associated with my phone number was not my name.
He said this would cause me trouble in the future, especially with online purchases, as AI checks/verifies me by checking the phone number and associated name.
I then traveled with no issues booking hotels online.

In December 2022, I bought tickets online to a local event, PayPal AI checked the CC, phone number, and name… And declined the sale. Cause the phone name didn’t match the name put on the form.
Getting the name changed was a minor annoyance with the Phone company, and a medium annoyance involving a Karen at the CC.
I assume it’s all fixed and functional as PayPal later accepted the card.
But, I won’t be overly surprised if there are some future annoyances …

:lotus:
ralph

We use our Fidelity VISA card for pretty much everything. No issues here.

'38Packard

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No recent issues (we use Discover 99.9% of the time). Recently bought a couple big ticket items (new iPad and iMac online), got texts asking if they were legit.

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I’ve been experiencing the same thing as @PucksFool lately. I have two primary cards, both have which declined recently, one of which is the Fidelity Visa. I’ve been declined about three or four times in the last few weeks. A couple of times it was on my phone, so I thought maybe it was an ApplePay thingy, but it has happened with the physical cards as well.

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Used to have it happen to me constantly, because we were living in the Caribbean and fraud was pretty rampant there. Typically happened at check out at the grocery store, with a cart load of frozen items in the hot humid environment. The cashier would routinely call the bank who would ask me questions and approve the charge.

Once I asked why this was happening to us, given that we always pay our balance off monthly and were no where near our credit limit. The financial institution, in PA, told me that it was because the location was unusual. I asked them to tell me what they had for a billing address…our island residence…and asked if they really thought it strange that I would be making weekly charges at a grocery store at the location they billed me? Asked them to please put a note on my account not to treat charges on this island as strange and unusual. Cut the issues down in half.

Moved back to PA, but at the corner of the state that bordered NJ and DE. Not unusual for me to go shopping in all 3 states in the course of a couple of hours. Transactions flagged again, and I requested another note be put on our account that we LIVED in the tristate area and charges in multiple states within minutes of each other not strange.

Happened as well in transit between PA and our vacation home in VA and had yet another note put on the account. Got to the point where I would call them in advance of a trip and give them our itinerary.

Changed to a Costco card from a major bank. No more problems. Credit unions are not always worth the hassle!

IP,
taking the long way to tell you that no, you are not alone

@syke6 - I use Apple Pay with the Fido VISA as well, so I’m not sure it would be that. I would just call Cardmember Services. They have pretty good Customer Service.

'38Packard

Just got back from the store. My alternate card got denied using ApplePay. I tried the physical version of the card and it worked fine. Hmmm…

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ARTIFICIAL DUMBNESS? Hmmm…

The Captain

Could be about who runs the charges for the stores.

About 20 years ago was making plans for a group trip to Cambodia/Angkor Wat. Hotels no issue. Tour guide no issue. Airlines from USA to Phnom Penh, to issue. But airlines from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat got denied. Gave Visa a call and the Thai airline used the same bank/clearing house (?) that a casino used, so automatic denial. Things went through after clarifying I was who I said I was.

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