Cards getting declined at times

[Beast26]

Why do my cards sometimes get declined?  The other day my discover card got declined and I had to end up paying with my debit card.  But it was only declined at a sewer company.  Then yesterday my chase freedom flex was declined at panda express and I had to use my discover to pay.  I had just bought has with the freedom flex 15 mins before I tried to buy the panda express.  Does this happen to you guys too?  They still work just at times they get declined.  I didn't get a notification from either lender when the cards got declined.  They aren't turned off because I have been using them but it happened twice.

[Roger1071549]

My Hyatt card did the same thing the other day. I was out to dinner and it would not work. This was right after my friend (we were splitting the bill) had his Freedom Flex card approved. 

I thought it night have been a lazy swipe (it was closing time). But it seems like it was not just me. 

[Beast26]

Sucks because I missed out on  $30 of cashback earnings because of this.  I was using my discover it miles and it's still in the first year for a $1000 charge.

[Anonymous]

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@Beast26 wrote:

Why do my cards sometimes get declined?  The other day my discover card got declined and I had to end up paying with my debit card.  But it was only declined at a sewer company.  Then yesterday my chase freedom flex was declined at panda express and I had to use my discover to pay.  I had just bought has with the freedom flex 15 mins before I tried to buy the panda express.  Does this happen to you guys too?  They still work just at times they get declined.  I didn't get a notification from either lender when the cards got declined.  They aren't turned off because I have been using them but it happened twice.

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My Discover card was declined at a gas pump this week - in my same zip code!  Was rather frustrating.  I did get an alert about it a few minutes later asking me to confirm it and then I could reattempt the transaction but by that time I had already changed to a different card.

[Anonymous]

I've had cards declined because the bank assumed the charge was fraudulent.  More often with my debit card, but I've had it happen with credit cards a couple of times.  When I used to work in retail, it really wasn't an unusual occurence to have a card declined just because the machine seemingly didn't read it properly the first time.  Sometimes that comes from a bad swipe, or a worn card, but sometimes there was no apparent trigger, but the card would go through fine the second, or even on a couple of occasions, the third time it was swiped.  I definitely know that the chips were problematic at first as well, just from personal experience.  If you're sure the card should be fine, you can always call the card company before trying again.  That way, if they are blocking it for fraud, they can lift that.

To add, if someone has been working in a place with card readers long, they likely won't judge you for a declined card.  Unless you're a jerk about it, like one notable customer (like I had any control over the card reader declining her card).  I'm not going to lie, I definitely felt some joy after her card was declined at the ATM as well, and she had to borrow money from her teenage daughter to pay for her stuff.

[gdale6]

The simple answer to your question OP is security algorthims that are sometimes out of control. They think for themselves but not like a human would.

[staticvoidmain]

In my experience with Chase, their fraud detection is terrible. They get lots of false positives, so that might be the reason. With Discover, it is possible that they just do not accept discover.

[JamP]

My Discover card sometimes gets declined at carwashes and such. I called and they do not see it declining so I ordered a new card. The new card gets declined. It actually shows declined on the screen.

I am unable to use the chip on my Cap1 Savor card at Subway for some reason, gives me an error or declines. I can use it 5 other places that day without issue. 

I started using Google pay which works great most days.

I figured it's something with those readers or maybe the way I store my cards in my wallet.

I just use a different card now or Google Pay, its not worth being embarrassed because it declined and you have 40k available credit and no real way to fix it.

[Anonymous]

Make sure you have enabled GPS for these apps and if you don't have them on your phone, add them and give them GPS access. Many credit card companies are starting to include GPS data in their fraud algorithms. Not having the app or denying it GPS access can get your card declined. 

[Heatt99]

Credit card company's go by a consumers spending pattern, radius of zip code, amount of spend to name a few. 

This protects the user and the creditor from fraud. Depending on creditor, one will need to setup travel options or call in advance to make aware of said purchase.

Its pretty cool and yet annoying 🙃