topic Re: Fear of the decline in Credit Cards

Fear of the decline

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:21:08 GMT

I believe I suffer from a condition. I don't want to exagerate but everytime I use a debit card or cc for any transaction other than online, there is this part of me that's worried about getting declined. I started rebuilding my credit about 1 1/2 years ago and maybe this is a result of carrying the burden of bad credit for so many years. With poor credit any type of face to face review can be painful whether that be applying for a cell phone, auto insurance, a car loan, attempting to open a checking acct. or even renting a car. I have 2 low limit cc's that I won't even pull out of my wallet if I think there anywhere close to the limit and I pay those in full numerous times a month. My debit card has a $2500 daily transaction limit and keep that acct. pretty well funded and I worry about it.

My understanding is even people with stellar credit and prime cards (Amex) can be declined if a pattern is disrupted or a review has been initiated?

Re: Fear of the decline

trumpet-205 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:23:28 GMT

Lenders usually decline transaction because,

* Sudden high charge

* Suspicious of fraud

* Overlimit

Re: Fear of the decline

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:28:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I believe I suffer from a condition. I don't want to exagerate but everytime I use a debit card or cc for any transaction other than online, there is this part of me that's worried about getting declined. I started rebuilding my credit about 1 1/2 years ago and maybe this is a result of carrying the burden of bad credit for so many years. With poor credit any type of face to face review can be painful whether that be applying for a cell phone, auto insurance, a car loan, attempting to open a checking acct. or even renting a car. I have 2 low limit cc's that I won't even pull out of my wallet if I think there anywhere close to the limit and I pay those in full numerous times a month. My debit card has a $2500 daily transaction limit and keep that acct. pretty well funded and I worry about it.
My understanding is even people with stellar credit and prime cards (Amex) can be declined if a pattern is disrupted or a review has been initiated?

You're not alone. I experience this, too. I'm hoping that as my credit improves this will fade, but it may be something that will always be there, lurking in the back of my mind. Admittedly, though, it has been getting easier as time goes on and I'm becoming more secure over my credit rating. FWIW, I do understand how you feel.

Re: Fear of the decline

MidnightVoice — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:34:51 GMT

I don't use my Amex in public

Re: Fear of the decline

drsmith — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:35:40 GMT

I suffer from this too. Only I'm on the other side of it. A lot of people get their cards declined at the rental car counter for a variety of reasons. The card company freezes their card because they don't realize they're traveling, obvious declines with maxed out cards, people trying to use debit cards that fail the credit checks.

Informing someone their card is declined sucks

Re: Fear of the decline

FicoScore626 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:43:34 GMT

I'm always afraid that my card will get declined too which is part of the reason why I carry an army of credits cards and debit cards with me..

In the past, before I had the amount of credit cards that I currently have, I'd occasionally head over to Best Buy with plans to use my debit card to make some purchases. But I was so paranoid that I'd also withdraw enough cash from an ATM to cover the purchase just to be on the safe side. The transactions always went through so I'd dump most of the cash back in my account...

Re: Fear of the decline

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:52:20 GMT

If I'm on a date with a gal I always make it a point to have plenty of greenbacks on the hip. I can't think of a worse scenario than to have a waiter tell you "no dice" when it comes to the meal and drinks transaction. "ahh, hey Lisa can we try one of your cards?"

Re: Fear of the decline

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:18:22 GMT

Count me in. In fact, I just got a decline an hour ago with my 1 month old GEMB card in Walmart. It went through the second try, nevertheless. If not then I was about to unleash my BOA card, along with 5 other debit cards fully loaded. Thanks to all the suffering from the declines in the past. Still I'm always paranoid.

Re: Fear of the decline

tntexans72 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:25:47 GMT

Chase have declined me twice in the L12 months at Discount Tire. I swiped the CC inside and was declined the 1st time for $600s and 2nd time for $200s. Both times about 6 months apart. Had to call in to clear things up. Their reason was "suspicious activity". I pretty much bitch them out the 2nd time cause the CSR was giving me a hard time. I answered all security questions correctly but he insisted I call him back from my home phone. Told him I am inside the store and could not call him from my home phone. I had to get the call escalated to a supervisor to clear things up. I ended up using my Chase Debit CC to finalized the purchased. The Chase supervisor was very nice to say the least. Getting declined is a shocker and so far, only Chase have done this to me. All charges was local. I did travel abroad a few times, notified them of the travel and things went smooth.

Re: Fear of the decline

Walt_K — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 04:15:06 GMT

It gets better. The first job I got after losing my job in 2008 was a temp position. I had been out of work for several months, was way behind on everything including my mortgage. I was juggling so many things, and taking advantage of every trick I could to try to keep all the balls in the air, like initiating some payments before I had the funds because I knew it usually took that company a couple days to withdraw the money even though they would credit me on the day I put the payment through.

Anyway, the very first day on the job I go to lunch with one of the other guys in the office. My debit card was declined after we already had our food. I was into my overdraft protection and they wouldn't approve it. I just met this guy and I was borrowing money from him to pay for lunch. That was humiliating.

Oh well, I paid him back the next day. And as embarrassed as I was about it, I doubt he even remembers it. We're still in touch. In fact, he asked me to write him a letter of recommendation for a law school application recently.

I am a little nervous every once in a while when I've had to put a lot of business expenses on my card and usage gets high for the month, but it's mostly a thing of the past. Before you know it, you won't think about it anymore either.

Re: Fear of the decline

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:16:36 GMT

I'm so glad I'm not alone.

Everytime I use my new American Express, I freak out.

$3 coffee- "What if AmEx isn't used to to these small charges? They might decline me!"

$100 dinner- "What if AmEx isn't used to these expensive dinners on my account? They might decline me!"

$50 lunch- "I've done three of these this week! What if this puts me over that invisible credit limit thing? They might decline me!"

Then, "If they decline me, they just might decide I'm not worth the risk and cancel my card!"

I mean, it's basically a fear of rejection manifesting itself in credit card terms. (And I've spent several hours reading stories like, "I was a perfect customer for one million years, then I bought some gum and then AmEx cancelled my card.") I told a friend that I had this fear and the reply was, "Who cares? It's just a f#%$*&@ credit card."

And that's the truth-- it's not like a credit card decline is going to ruin anyone's life (and likewise, it's not like never getting a decline is going to massively improve your quality of life). In the big scheme of things, what happens when I swipe my card at Starbucks has relatively little impact on me or anyone else. AmEx is going to do what they what. And I'm going to do what I want. This relationship is only going to work if we're both looking for the same thing.

That said, when I get gas tomorrow, I can guarantee I'll be asking myself: "How much does Exxon authorize? I bet AmEx is cool with $50, but what with fuel prices, I bet it'll be more like $100 and since I ate out twice yesterday..."

Re: Fear of the decline

andre181 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:19:17 GMT

I've only had a decline once on any card because of the daily limit on my debit card but I still fear declines too.

Whenever the person in front of me at the store gets declined, I feel SO bad for them. It must be so embarrassing.

Re: Fear of the decline

brian2220 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:40:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm so glad I'm not alone.

Everytime I use my new American Express, I freak out.

$3 coffee- "What if AmEx isn't used to to these small charges? They might decline me!"
$100 dinner- "What if AmEx isn't used to these expensive dinners on my account? They might decline me!"
$50 lunch- "I've done three of these this week! What if this puts me over that invisible credit limit thing? They might decline me!"

Then, "If they decline me, they just might decide I'm not worth the risk and cancel my card!"

I mean, it's basically a fear of rejection manifesting itself in credit card terms. (And I've spent several hours reading stories like, "I was a perfect customer for one million years, then I bought some gum and then AmEx cancelled my card.") I told a friend that I had this fear and the reply was, "Who cares? It's just a f#%$*&@ credit card."

And that's the truth-- it's not like a credit card decline is going to ruin anyone's life (and likewise, it's not like never getting a decline is going to massively improve your quality of life). In the big scheme of things, what happens when I swipe my card at Starbucks has relatively little impact on me or anyone else. AmEx is going to do what they what. And I'm going to do what I want. This relationship is only going to work if we're both looking for the same thing.

That said, when I get gas tomorrow, I can guarantee I'll be asking myself: "How much does Exxon authorize? I bet AmEx is cool with $50, but what with fuel prices, I bet it'll be more like $100 and since I ate out twice yesterday..."

qt authorized 100 on my gold card

and i never fear amex

i charged 1200 in about 25 purchases last month and didn't get declined once

if anyone wants to decline me for no reason they can leave my wallet and go to the shredder

@andre181 i feel sorry for them also

i seen someone at the store the other day using a bunch of cards because they kept getting declined and the had to put stuff back and that was bad to see that

Re: Fear of the decline

FicoScore626 — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 06:10:13 GMT

@andre181 wrote:
I've only had a decline once on any card because of the daily limit on my debit card but I still fear declines too.

Whenever the person in front of me at the store gets declined, I feel SO bad for them. It must be so embarrassing.

I think the level of embarrassment might depend on whether they have backup cards or cash to pay for the item(s) they're trying to purchase or whether they have to leave the store empty-handed..It my case, I experienced no embarrassment when I tried to purchase a pair of boots for around $100 from Macy's one evening and the cashier/clerk told me that my Macy's store card was declined. I was perplexed as hell by that as my credit limit was $1500 and I had a balance of $845 on the card at the time. Come to find out after speaking with a rep over the phone that Macy's had decreased my credit limit to $850. The rep's genius idea was for me to charge $5.00 on my Macy's store card and charge the rest on one of my other credit cards. Why not just charge the whole thing on my visa card? LOL

I think my boss is INSANE. He travels abroad (Israel) and puts all of his faith on a single card. He did the same thing with his wife and they both ended up paying for it...

In the wife's case, he sent her to Israel alone with just an American Express card and the place she was staying at didn't accept American Express so she had to borrow the money from a cab driver that they knew...

In the cases of my boss, he recently went through the embarrassment of trying to be a big shot with some family members in Israel. They went out to eat, the dinner came out to around $400. He whipped out his trusty Berkshire credit card only to have it declined... One of the other family members took care of the bill and my boss called the office and had the secretary contact the bank to find out why the card was declined.. And then he told the secretary "it was SO embarrassing."

I don't even travel within the U.S. with a single card, heck, I don't even go to the local supermarket or 7-11 with a single card, lol.. I always have a few with me at the ready in case something goes wrong with one of them at checkout..

Re: Fear of the decline

TangMeister — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 06:27:48 GMT

@MidnightVoice wrote:
I don't use my Amex in public

I was behind someone in Target a while back, and he got declined for a small purchase on his Amex. He was embarrassed and angry and apologized to me for holding up the checkout line since I was next. I told him I'd recently read that Amex has flagged Target purchases for scrutiny because they've experienced a higher than normal level of fraud in those transactions, and that's probably all that was going on. It's not personal! And you know? He was relieved and that made it worthwhile to speak up. Sometimes we credit addicts do a good deed.

Re: Fear of the decline

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:07:14 GMT

I used to be AU on a credit card from my mom and I have NO idea how much credit line is left on it... Sometimes my mom maxes it out or together we both do. My mom is the kind that let the bank draft the money on due day and never pays during the cycle. If I am by myself, espeically at groceries store or gas pumps, I would just try it even though I know there is a high change it will get declined. But then all the time I have three other cards to back it up.

HOWEVER, when it comes to my own accounts, I check them DAILY online, sometimes BI or TRI daily. Once a gas pump put a $100 pre-auth and I called at 10 at night to see what's up because I didn't know any better then. I must say even though I am not suffering from the fear of the decline, i am suffering from hmmm, excesive managing?

Re: Fear of the decline

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:23:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I'm so glad I'm not alone.

Everytime I use my new American Express, I freak out.

$3 coffee- "What if AmEx isn't used to to these small charges? They might decline me!"
$100 dinner- "What if AmEx isn't used to these expensive dinners on my account? They might decline me!"
$50 lunch- "I've done three of these this week! What if this puts me over that invisible credit limit thing? They might decline me!"

Then, "If they decline me, they just might decide I'm not worth the risk and cancel my card!"

I mean, it's basically a fear of rejection manifesting itself in credit card terms. (And I've spent several hours reading stories like, "I was a perfect customer for one million years, then I bought some gum and then AmEx cancelled my card.") I told a friend that I had this fear and the reply was, "Who cares? It's just a f#%$*&@ credit card."

And that's the truth-- it's not like a credit card decline is going to ruin anyone's life (and likewise, it's not like never getting a decline is going to massively improve your quality of life). In the big scheme of things, what happens when I swipe my card at Starbucks has relatively little impact on me or anyone else. AmEx is going to do what they what. And I'm going to do what I want. This relationship is only going to work if we're both looking for the same thing.

That said, when I get gas tomorrow, I can guarantee I'll be asking myself: "How much does Exxon authorize? I bet AmEx is cool with $50, but what with fuel prices, I bet it'll be more like $100 and since I ate out twice yesterday..."

Thanks for sharing that; I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one!

I just got back in with Amex, after a two decades long parting of the ways. I don't want to do anything to rattle them, so I think that I'm becoming a little bit paranoid about using the card. Enough? Not enough? Too much??? Well, really not too much, mostly because I'm afraid of using it. But I mentally go through the exact same scenario that you painted above!!!

Add to that the fact that I've logged onto their website frequently to check on my account and to familiarize myself with my card's features/benefits. Now I'm wondering if they're going to notice that I log on more than once a day, and will they flag that as "suspicious activity." Am I being paranoid?

Well, here's where I'm at... My Cap1 rewards card is going on its monthly "vacation" today, so that it will have time to allow my recent charges to post and I can PIF before my statement cuts. Currently I have < $300 balance from this month's charges on my Amex Green. My DH and I are going out to dinner tomorrow to celebrate our anniversary. I've been wanting to pay with my Amex so that I can get a little bit more activity on it and earn a few more rewards points. BUT... I don't know where my invisible CL is with them! Will I get declined??? I'm starting to think that I'm getting silly and overthinking this. If Amex won't let me charge between 300 - 400 in a month with them, then that would strike me as subprime. No, I think that I'll be ok and go ahead and use the card tomorrow. If there is a problem, I've got plenty of other options sitting in my wallet.

Re: Fear of the decline

thobbs — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:27:48 GMT

@TangMeister wrote:

@MidnightVoice wrote:
I don't use my Amex in public
I was behind someone in Target a while back, and he got declined for a small purchase on his Amex. He was embarrassed and angry and apologized to me for holding up the checkout line since I was next. I told him I'd recently read that Amex has flagged Target purchases for scrutiny because they've experienced a higher than normal level of fraud in those transactions, and that's probably all that was going on. It's not personal! And you know? He was relieved and that made it worthwhile to speak up. Sometimes we credit addicts do a good deed.

This happened to me at Target with my AMEX. I had no balance of what I can remember, and a $9300 CL. Target was the only one who had the particular iPad model in stock that I wanted and I tried to use my AMEX Blue Sky... rejected. Used my BoA card and got approved but received a text message saying to call them immediately. Had to call AMEX too, to get my card unfrozen. That sucked.

Re: Fear of the decline

cashnocredit — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:56:45 GMT

20 years ago, back when I had a bunch of CCs I strongly favored using my non AMEX CCs over AMEX since I had no idea what my CL actually was with them.

Skip to last year. I had let all my credit lapse over 10 years ago and had recently picked up a few secured cards including a Citi 25k one. In a last minute rush I had to make arrangements to charter a medical flight for my mom to transport her to my home for 7/24 care. With only hours to do it and after the banks had closed I was able to arrange a charter with a partial (2/3) payment on my Citi card and the remainder by check. They called their CC service company for authorization and - DECLINED- at which point they called me back to get another card. I had no other card with anywhere near the CL needed.

I called the Citi CSR number and was immediately escalated. They could see no reason the charge was declined though they could see the attempt and decline on their computers. So, in a three way call, we tried again and again it was declined. They then asked if the charter company would take a manual authorization but they couldn't because the CC was handled entirely by another party. The Citi guy then started investigating why the automatic system was declining the charge when everything they could see was a go. After 10 minutes the CSR came back on and said he had tracked down the problem and they would need to tweak something that would take another 5 mins. After he came back on he indicated the charter company should re-submit the bill and he would standby to make sure it went through. It did and everyone was happy.

Citi had changed their secured card program and cut the max for new applicants from 25k to 5k on the card a few months earlier. At the time they also reset the maximum cash advance to either 5k or the CL, whichever was higher. Since this was a service purchase, not a product purchase, and was "card not present" as well it apparently triggered the decline.

In any case I understand the need to handle risk and greatly appreciate Citi's very professional approach to dealing with the problem. I was able to get my mom home and not have her dumped somewhere in the interim.

Re: Fear of the decline

minimock — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:57:27 GMT

Rejectophobia, LOL, I think everyone suffers from it to one degree or the another. I wouldnt feel too badly about it. Just means your human.