11 Ways to Fix Debit or Credit Card Declined Issues

Have you ever had your debit card declined? What came to your mind at that moment? Did you find the reasons why it was declined? Here we explained in detail 11 possible reasons why your card could be declined and how you can resolve the problems.

11 Reasons Your Debit Card Declined

Debit and credit cards no doubt provide convenient ways of making purchases at any point of sale.

However, just like when using credit cards, sometimes the merchant can decline your transaction when you insert your card.

Why was my debit card declined? I know that having your credit or debit card declined can be very frustrating.

Someone will ask, “why is my credit or debit card been declined when I have money in my account?” Well, let’s find the answers to these questions together.

Reasons Why Your Card Declined

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1.Insufficient funds

The most common reason why your debit card can be declined is not having enough funds in the account from which you want to make withdrawals. This is often the case with people who do not keep consistent track of their spending. People someone times a result of a lack of consistent transaction tracking run out of funds without knowing. This usually happens to people who always send someone to carry out financial transactions for them, either depositing or withdrawing for them. This makes it difficult sometimes for these transactions to be tracked. Especially in a society where mobile network failure could prevent transaction alert delivery.

If you have overdraft protection, you can still go ahead with cash transactions when you run out of money. In other words, if you have overdraft protection, your debit card will not be declined because of a shortage of funds. Overdraft protection ensures your transactions are processed even when you have less amount of money in your account.

Your debit card in some cases can be declined but charged. This is in most cases is a result of pending authorization. It could mean that there you have an unprocessed payment. However, the pending charge disappears after payment is processed.

There are a lot of budget management apps, such as Trim that you can conveniently use to Trim expenses such as your cable TV subscription bill and lots more. Trim is free.

How to prevent card decline as a result of insufficient fund:

For you to effectively prevent your debit card been declined at any point as a result of insufficient balance, you need to keep track of your bank transactions and balance. If you are not using mobile banking or online banking channels, it is time you get started. You need to subscribe to email and mobile transaction alert. These will surely help you keep track of inflow and outflow from your bank accounts.

You can also download the mobile app from your bank. Almost all banks now have mobile apps. This will help you to quickly check your balance at every point in time before initiating any financial transactions. Having at heart your financial strength will save you a lot of embarrassment.

You can also manage your personal finance using certain other apps such as the Personal Capital app. These apps when properly used will ensure you don’t run out of funds.

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Multiple Incorrect PIN entries

This is another major reason for a declined debit card. Some people at the point of debit card activation generate complex debit card PIN which afterward they find it very difficult to remember. Having your debit card PIN at heart is very much important to forestall your debit card been declined. When you enter your debit card incorrectly several times, the ATM may decline and block your debit card.

This usually happens to people who are careless with details such as there debit card PIN. The essence of a PIN for your debit card is to ensure that only you can access the funds in your account using your debit card.

The same way ATM will respond and treat a scammer or someone who wants to make transactions with your card without your authorization is the way it will treat you, the real card owner if you wrongly enter your PIN repeatedly.

Multiple incorrect PIN entries send fraud alerts to the card issuer which makes them decline a transaction and also block the card.

Card issuers, whenever they suspect that card is stolen or been used with the authorization of the owner, not only decline processing transactions, they also blog such debit cards.

How to prevent card decline as a result of incorrect PIN:

The sure way to avoid your debit card been declined and possibly blocked during a transaction is to memorize the PIN of your card. If you have multiple cards and cannot write the separate PINs in a secure place that online you can access, it is advised that you use a uniform or single PIN for all your debit and credit cards.

If you must write the PIN of your card, let it be in a secure place where you alone can access. Been careless with card detail have caused a lot of people serious loses.

Bad people can take advantage of your carelessness to empty your bank account.

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You’ve Reached Your Daily Withdrawal Limit

Often, this happens to people who lost track of their daily transactions or who may not know the daily transaction limit set by their bank.

All regulated financial institutions have a daily financial limit that customers cannot exceed. This limit was given by the Central Bank to the volume of cash in circulation in society. This also was introduced to protect peoples’ accounts against fraudulent transactions. At least when bad people succeed in gaining unauthorized access into the customer’s account, they will not be able to empty such accounts. At least, when they make transactions up to the daily stipulated limit, they will be forced to stop.

Ensure you keep track of your daily transactions to know when you reach the daily transaction limit of your bank.

How to prevent decline as a result of daily limit:

You need to know the daily card transaction limit set by your bank.

Also, just as we pointed out above, you need to keep track of your daily banking transactions. This will enable you to know when you approach your daily transaction limit.

On the other hand, if you plan to carry out a huge withdrawal in a day, you can inform your bank in good time, maybe, they can adjust for your card, the daily transaction limit for that particular day or period.

Alternatively, you can also operate more than a single card so that when you reach the daily transaction limit of one, you switch over to another card.

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Card Expiration

Banks do inform their customers in good time before the expiration of their card. However some customers, either intentionally or unintentionally do not renew their cards. This for the people who did not know that their card has expired results in their card been declined when they want to carry our transaction.

Debit and credit cards have expiration dates. Trying to perform a transaction with them when expired will not work, will only decline or ceased by the ATM.

Most of the time, when cards are declined for transactions, the last thing that could come to the mind of the customer is the card expiration date.

How to prevent card decline due to expiration:

To prevent your card from being declined for transactions, try as much as you can keep in mind the expiration date of your card. Most banks will notify you in a good time when your card is to expire. If you perform a transaction using the ATM, the will also prompt you with the message that your card will soon expire. If you subscribed to online banking services too, an email will be sent to you. All these are so that you can take decisive steps and actions to get your card renewed at the point of expiration.

If your card cannot be renewed auto-renewed for any reason, maybe because of insufficient funds, you can approach your bank to manually renew your card. Ensure that you destroy every replaced card so as not to give room for a security breach. Your old cards still contain some vital data that can be exploited by bad people.

Wrong personal data entry

Incorrect entry of your personal information when performing a transaction with your card could result in your card been declined. This usually happens when carrying out online transactions. Merchants usually request the details on the card such as the name of the card and the card number, if you enter any incorrect detail, your transaction, and your card will be declined

Sometimes, when shopping online, you may be required to enter your zip code, ensure you enter the correct Zip code.

How to prevent card been declined as a result of wrong personal data entry:

Whenever you are performing online transactions, do ensure that you enter information as it appears on the card. For instance, if you don’t enter the card holder’s name the way it appears on the card, maybe you rearrange the names, your card will be declined.

Always update your record with your bank to prevent loss of information as a result of a change of environment.

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Suspicious Transaction

Most banks have a clause in the customer’s account opening form and card issuance form which gave them the right to decline transactions they see as being suspicious. Suspicious activities may include excessive transactions with a short period.

This feature is to protect cardholders from people who may want to steal from them.

How to avoid card decline as a result of suspicious transactions:

Inform your bank in good time before commencing heavy transactions online. Alternatively, split your transactions into smaller amounts spread over a space of time.

You’ve made an International Purchase

Banking services are becoming global. You can perform a banking transaction with your credit card from anywhere in the world. This gives room for fraud stars to have access to people to account from across the world. These days, you can use your debit card, such as a Visa or MasterCard, anywhere in the world.

When your bank suspects unusual transactions or unauthorized access to your card, they can flag it as unsafe. This is to protect you from online fraud starts.

How to prevent card decline as a result of international transactions:

You don’t necessarily have to let your bank know before you travel. But do ensure that you moderate your transactions. Give time between transactions, this way you would have your card flagged.

Also ensure before you use an ATM outside the country of issuance that you check if the machine will accept your card, this way your card wouldn’t be declined.

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Technical Issues

Sometimes, your card may be declined due to no fault of yours. Your card can be declined due to technical issues from your bank or the other end of your transaction. Merchants systems may be having network or technical issues processing your transaction.

A merchant may experience for instance:

Slow internet connection,

Power failure or

Transactions overload.

Since the fault is not yours, probably with your bank or merchant, you may not have control over whether or not your card will be declined. If your experience card decline as a result of technical issues from your bank or merchant, you can always:

Try again after some time,

Use a different terminal, or

Wait until the systems are up and running.

Your Joint Holder Deactivated Your Card

If you run a joint account with someone, maybe your spouse, business partner, or your family member, if the other person deactivates the card of your joint account, you lose the authority to perform transactions using the said card. Most banks allow a partner to deactivate a card with the consent of the other partner. This is to prevent fraud.

Once a partner deactivates a card, financial transactions can no longer be performed using the said card. This is good especially in the case of theft or misplacement of the card.

How to prevent card decline as a result of deactivation:

If you plan to deactivate a card of a joint account, do ensure that your partner is aware. You can also create a clause at the point of account opening where it will be stated that both partners will sign for any major changes to your account, which of course include card activation or deactivation.

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You Haven’t Activated the Card Yet

Often time people collect the card from the customer card and head home with activating the card. For security reasons, banks require that cards be activated before they can be used. Good a thing this day, bank try as much as possible to assist a customer with card activation at the point of issuance.

To avoid having your debit card declined due to activation, make sure that you follow every instruction given by your bank for activation.

Card Type not Acceptable

Transactions can be declined if a merchant does not accept payment from your card type. Some checkouts and merchants are selective when it comes to the type they accept for transactions. If you try to use your card on a merchant or ATM that does not accept it, it will surely be declined.

Debit card declined at any point of sale or ATM could also be as a result of not using the payment method that the ATM or POS accept.

Before you insert your card, be sure that the merchant accepts the card type you have.

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