Card Declined

Here at Banquest Payment Systems we often get calls from our merchants asking us why a credit card transaction was declined? They claim to have entered all the information correctly and yet it was still declined. Why???

Well, most of the time the issue tends to be on the customer side rather than the merchant side.

One of the most straightforward reasons for a credit card transaction being declined is because the cardholder reached their credit limit that was set by their credit card issuer. The issuing bank simply won’t let them borrow any more money until they’ve made a payment. There are many types of limits; daily, monthly, per transaction, etc… and it may be that a customer has reached one of their preset limits.

Another reason may be due to today’s credit card companies advanced fraud detection tools. If a purchase is being made outside of the customers usual geographical area, the credit card issuer may decline the transaction due to fraud concerns. They may also decline transactions that are significantly larger than usual or out of habit for a particular shopper.

All of the above declines are “Issuer Declines” for which as a merchant – there is not much you can do. The cardholder would need to either make a payment (in the case of reaching credit limit) or contact their credit card issuer (in the case of a fraud alert).

There are however credit card declines that can be due to the settings put in place by the specific merchants business. Some merchants will set rules to decline orders with billing addresses or security codes that do not match the correct information on file. Such declines are really not a credit decline (the card may actually be approved and authorized for the amount requested) it’s the merchant who is choosing not to capture and go through with the transaction.

We are always available to help you determine the reason for a decline. Feel free to reach out anytime to support@banquest.com or 855-323-8300.

Happy Tuesday & Happy Selling!

Kevin

P.S. Our very own President’s credit card was declined when dining out in NYC! Click HERE for the story.