The Process of Handling a Declined Credit Card
You may have at some point faced a declined credit card purchase while out shopping. This could be the result of several mishaps. As much as you shall attend to those transactions through other options, it is good to know what led to the declination. Here are the things that could cause it.
You may have run out of credit. This happens to be the most common excuse. Anytime you try to make a purchase that goes beyond the set credit limit, you can expect it to be declined. You may have also have fallen back in your monthly payments. A credit card will remain active as long as you make the necessary payments. You only need to at least make the minimum monthly contributions for the card not to be declined.
You may also have had your account flagged by the issuer. They do this to alert you to their actions, and have you contact them for further explanations. The most common reason for a flag is to stop fraudulent activities on your account. Your spending actions may cause enough worry for them to do so, not an indication that you are actually committing fraud. An example is using the card from a location that is odd, such as on another continent. By flagging your account, they shall prevent further malicious activities from taking place. They may also close the account. Card issuers have that right, where they do not need to warn you when they do. They may do so on an inactive account in their system. You will discover more about why they do so when you read more on credit card processing.
You could also be using an expired card. You should make a point of checking if the card is expired when you are told it is declined. You shall resume utilizing this service when you go collect the new card. At the same time, your card may be on hold. You may have checked into a hotel, or rented a car with the card to put it on hold. It shall resume normal operations once you are done with that usage.
When your card has been declined, there are several things you can do about it. You can use another card to pay and worry about the embarrassment later. You need to find out from the issuer what could have been the cause. The card usually has a number you can call with. By knowing which of these reasons led to the decline, you can address it accordingly. You then need to be more careful in future, to avoid such scenarios. You may start by being more financially responsible. This site shall allow you to learn more about how to manage dents and other financial scenarios.