A1 ✅: You met your credit limit. Maxing out your credit card, or reaching your card’s credit limit, is a surefire way to have your card denied.

 

A2 ✅: When you're Travelling. If you use your credit card to make a purchase while traveling– simply attempting the transaction in a different city could cause an issue with your bank. Logging a lot of credit card activity in different locations (both domestic and internationally) raises a red flag to credit card issuers that your card may be stolen.

 

A3 ✅: Large purchases.  If you splurge on a spending spree or save up and make one big purchase, your credit card issuer may flag your account. Similar to travel, any card activity that’s outside of your ordinary spending habits may trigger fraud protection and lead to your issuer freezing your account, causing a card decline. (Notifying your credit card issuer of your spending changes helps to fend off account locks).

 

A4 ✅: Incorrect payment information. When attempting to make your purchase, especially online or via mobile app, it’s easy to enter a digit of your credit card number, expiration date or security code incorrectly. Or perhaps your billing address is outdated. These could all be simple explanations for a declined transaction. Double check your card information to ensure it’s correct.

 

A5 ✅: Missed payments. After you miss a payment for the first time, you should contact your issuer and settle the missed payment as quickly as possible. But if you have a history of missed payments, you may find your card getting declined at the register, even if you’re just a few days past your due date.

 

A6 ✅: An expired or deactivated credit card. Trying to use an expired card or a deactivated account will nearly always result in having your transaction declined.

 

A7 ✅: There’s a hold on your card. Large purchases can also become a problem when a hold is placed on your credit card.