Basic Credit Card Reasons for Decline

OK, you are at the mall with your credit cards in hand this Black Friday and ready to charge some great deals after shopping for a few hours. You patiently waited for 15 to 30 minutes in line, but when the cashier rings up your sale, she says the card has been declined. Good thing you had a back up credit card with you and some cash to make sure you were covered.

In the back of your mind you must be wondering, why didn't the charge go through. The card is paid up to date and I have plenty of available credit. There is no basic credit card reason of this account to be declined. You make a mental note to yourself to call the credit card issuer when you get home.

Before you call, there are basic credit card reasons for your purchase to be declined. Some may be for security reasons, if you don't make that many purchases on that particular card. That has happened to me recently, but I usually get a call from my credit card company asking to confirm if I just made a few purchases at so and so places. The credit card companies have security features that flag your account when there is unusual activity or excessive activity on your credit cards. They do this for your protection, but most importantly their protection. The credit card company would prefer to decline your purchase and restrict your account, than to take a loss from fraudulent credit card purchases. That makes sense. Of course, this will also get you to call them if you are the legitimate person authorized to charge on the credit card.

Another basic credit card reason to get declined is if your payment is late or was just late in the last billing cycle. Credit card companies have programs that will flag your accounts if you miss making a payment in the billing cycle before your due date. You will know you are late if you check your statements because there will be a monster late charge and possibly over the limit charge added on. Ouch!

There is also the dreaded decrease in credit limit reason which will cause your account to decline because the credit card company has reduced your credit to the balance you owe on it. Like I said I am blogging about my personal experiences and this one bites. Especially if you haven't been late on any of your payments. Here is my personal blog about that. I hate when that happens. There are many reasons why the credit card company may have lowered your limit recently, but that is a blog post in itself.

Now the worst reason to have your credit card declined is because the credit card company has canceled your account. You should have been notified by mail or email, but may have overlooked it. Again, the reasons of why they would have canceled your accounts is another post in itself, too.

There are many basic reasons why your credit card company would decline your purchase like the reasons listed above. It could be as simple as you taking an expired credit card with you or a newly issued credit card that you have forgot to activate. Of course, the best way to find out the reason your credit card was declined specifically is to call the credit card company's customer service (unfortunately you will have to wait awhile because their call volume this time of the year is through the roof).