Card Declined

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Here at Banquest Payment Systems we often get calls from our merchants asking why a specific credit card transaction was declined. They entered all the information correctly and it still came back as declined. Why?

 

Most of the time the issue tends to be on the customer side rather than the merchant side.

 

The most common reasons for a credit card decline is because the cardholder reached their credit limit or failed to pay their bill. 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…

 

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

 

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).

 

However there are 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 card decline (the card may actually be approved and authorized for the amount requested) but rather it’s the merchant who is choosing not to capture and go through with the transaction.

 

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

 

Happy Tuesday & Happy Selling!

Kevin

 

P.S. Former President Barack Obama’s credit card was declined when dining out in NYC! Click HERE to hear him tell the story.