I hope none of you were behind me at the checkout

[dividend]

I went stopped by the grocery store last night on my way home from work. I had worked late, and really didn't feel like cooking, so DBF suggested I just get a frozen pizza on my way home.

So I'm in the checkout line, being run up for $30 worth of frozen pizza, take and bake garlic bread, and beer. I swipe our joint credit card, and it's declined! Odd, but I'm sure there's an explanation. So I pull out my wallet, and swipe my all-purpose Visa. Also declined! I finally dig into my auxiliary wallet for my other Visa that I only opened for the $100 bonus, and am able to purchase my "groceries." I slunk out of there, convinced that the cashier was judging me for having to try 3 different credit cards to buy my overpriced prepared junk food and beer.

Turns out, one of the local merchants where DBF and I shop (and had used both of those cards) had their database compromised, so the cards had been deactivated. I wish the CC company's had let me know! So hopefully, none of your were behind me in the checkout line, because I totally looked like I deserved to be berated on YM! (At least I wasn't using EBT card though, right?)

[Firebird]

Haha, I went on an epic shopping trip with DBF last month (we needed EVERYTHING - we had no food and no household staples like soap of any kind). First we spent around $200 at the grocery store and then we headed to Target where we tried to spend another $200 or so. My card was declined as a security measure! I was so humiliated-- and to make matters worse, I couldn't use my debit card because I didn't HAVE $200 on it. We had to go all the way home and get DBF's debit card, then come back. I was hopping mad.

It turns out that if you appear to be going on a shopping spree, the bank will lock your card up until you call and verify the purchases. Smart, I suppose... but annoying if you're legit! Especially on a Sunday when the bank isn't open.

So, no judgment here ;D

[justwhoever]

No judgment here. Our Debit card is bi-polar or something. Some days it will work, others it won't. Hell some days it works at one place but not at another. And it's just a debit...not a credit card, so if they run it as credit it's gonna be declined. I hate actually going into the bank, but I will have to soon because it's starting to make us look bad.

[daisylu]

I have had my card denied many times as a "security measure".

[Deleted]

My card getting declined happened to me alot when I first started travelling for work... now I guessed they waived it since I called so many times pissed as hell.

I get the precaution measures and all, but sometimes it is just not the time for it to happen and no matter if you know you have the money or not; you still feel humiliated.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I had it happen while trying to buy textbooks online. I called them about it and they said that I had had a "flurry of activity' so they shut my card off. I had been saving for my textbooks and not spending a lot in the previous months so it suggested to them my card had been stolen. I asked them why don't they notify you of it and they said "We don't do that".

So you can randomly shut it off anywhere on earth but can't send me an automated phone call telling me you shut it off?!

I said fine next time I will buy a damn pack of gum before I purchase my textbooks so you know the card is being "used".

I haven't had it happen since. I get the precautions too, but it would be really nice if they would alert you that hte card has been shut off. What if I was trying to pay for a tow truck or something?

[cytoglycerine]

If I'm going to be making any kind of large purchases, or if I'm going on a shopping spree, I always make a point of calling my CC company ahead of time so there's no issues when I go to make my purchases...That being said, I do think it's lousy customer service for the CC company to freeze your card without even giving you a courtesy call. And they wonder why people complain

[Firebird]

Here's where I am judgmental - I think that if you're ashamed of your card cutting you off even if there's a logical explanation, you're probably fine.

I'm picturing the opposite extreme where someone pulls out a card, has it declined, and says, "Whoops, hit the limit on another one!" while digging around for a different card ;D

[resolution]

Part of the problem is they have no common sense about when they block things. I put our wedding rings on my card, and they approved the large transaction, then deactivated my card for the suspicious purchase after approving it. I found out when they declined my $50 grocery purchase at the store that I have gone to for years. If the jewelry purchase was so bad, why not decline that purchase? Why allow that one and decline the normal one?

[illinicheme]

I've never seen any logic behind the handful of times I've had a card deactivated without my knowledge due to "suspicious activity."

[Regis]

So that was you in front of me at the store last night, huh? ;D

[Deleted]

Yeah. the last time my card was declined as a 'security measure' (the 3rd or 4th in the past 6 months)... i was all irate and set to give someone a piece of my mind... until they asked me if i had authorized 600+ charge for clothes at a shop in Singapore... now i've resolved to just make sure i have enough back up plastic, and be thankful they care enough to check and see...

[isabella]

I really don't think too much about this when it happens to someone in front of me. I have had the embarrassment of my card denied as well for 'security/fraud alert' more than once. I actually have the fraud alert phone number in my cell phone contacts and just call to verify on the spot it's me making the purchase.

[Firebird]

Feb 18, 2011 15:08:38 GMT -5 resolution said:

Part of the problem is they have no common sense about when they block things. I put our wedding rings on my card, and they approved the large transaction, then deactivated my card for the suspicious purchase after approving it. I found out when they declined my $50 grocery purchase at the store that I have gone to for years. If the jewelry purchase was so bad, why not decline that purchase? Why allow that one and decline the normal one?

How are they supposed to block a purchase before it happens? When people steal credit cards, they usually make big purchases first and go on to make smaller ones later for this exact reason. The blocking of the credit card after that first big questionable purchase is meant to contain the damage if, in fact, your card was picked up by someone. It's much easier to reverse a single, large illicit charge than half a dozen smaller ones.

[cronewitch]

I have had banks call me but never had a card declined. Last time I got called was after I ordered a lot of Yen on line to pick up as travelers checks at the local bank. I used a card I hadn't used for anything in at least 4 years and it was thousands of dollars worth.

[wvugurl26]

My debit card wouldn't work at Target the other day. I had over $1k in the bank. I was p!ssed. Called two branches of the bank and no way to get to a human. This isn't a big huge chain either, they have like 5 branches in total I think. The cpa firm I used to work for did work for them. Which reminds me I settled for the contact us through my online access and they haven't sent me a reply! When I call my other bank a human answers the phone and they have over 50 branches in three states.
If it was for suscipious activity, they are way late as I've been in MD for over 8 months now. Way to catch on morons. Worked later that weekend at Walmart.
My CC was approved the second it left the swipey thing. And I've used it in Florida, Ohio, WV, Maryland, Arizona and Nevada in the past three months.

[Deleted]

I've noticed a string of small transactions to the same place set mine off. Around Christmas i ordered a lot at Amazon, but they went through as a string of little ones, and it flagged. I order all of the Scholastic books for my homeschool group, but they take a different transaction for each catalog, and the string of charges set it off twice...

[Deleted]

So, are these declined transactions with debit cards?

I have never had a transaction declined on my CCs... even when I racked up $10+k in one day.

[bean29]

Regarding Target,

The Day after thanksgiving I tried to purchase just over $450 worth of items at TArget on my RED Card (Debits my bank acct).

It was declined. I thought My Bank declied it. It was not the Bank, Target has a limit on how much you can Debit on the RED card at least initially.

I was declined at the grocery store once and it was b/c I had supicious activity on my Card. I would rather have them decline my card than have Fraud on my Debit or CC. Now that it happened to me once, I am fairly tolerant of a Declined Card - You really have no way to know exactly what is going on.

[wvugurl26]

I'd be more tolerant if someone would answer the damn phone or respond to a message I sent on 2/11 about my card being declined. I was spending $12. Over $1k in bank account.

[Deleted]

no... this is my cc, not debit.

[isabella]

my fraud/security alerts were for my CC and always when I was doing an unusual number of transactions in an afternoon or the amounts were larger than normal.
I no longer use a debit card, when I did have one it took a couple times of it getting declined to figure out the bank put a $500. a day limit on transactions. I stopped using the the debit card a few years ago.

[wvugurl26]

The $500/day limit only got me before I broke down and ordered checks on this account the card was declined on. Rent had to be paid with check or money order and paycheck went into this account to qualify for 3% interest rate. Didn't have checks and I was flat broke at the time so no ordering stuff.

[Peace77]

My husband had our CC declined once. He stopped at the gas station near our home just minutes after I had filled up my car and used the same CC.

[robbase]

I thought you were going to say that you had to whip out your food stamps to pay when your cards were declined

[resolution]

Feb 18, 2011 18:32:33 GMT -5 Firebird said:

How are they supposed to block a purchase before it happens? When people steal credit cards, they usually make big purchases first and go on to make smaller ones later for this exact reason. The blocking of the credit card after that first big questionable purchase is meant to contain the damage if, in fact, your card was picked up by someone. It's much easier to reverse a single, large illicit charge than half a dozen smaller ones.

When we made the large jewelry purchase, they didn't automatically approve it, there was a phone number display for the store owner to call. He spoke to a person who asked him to check my ID and verify that I was me, and then they approved the purchase. If they were going to put my card on hold for that they could have told me at the time or they could have just declined the purchase and I would have used my debit card. There was no reason for them to manually approve me for that and then block my normal grocery purchases. We were nowhere near the limit of the card, we had over $20,000 available credit limit so its not like the limit triggered it.

[whoami]

I've held up the line calling the credit card company when that has happened to me in the past. I'm always getting stuck behind the coupon queen with her 8000 coupons who wants to argue over a .25 cent coupon that isnt being accepted...they can wait for me those 2 or 3 times a year when Citi gives me a hard time.

[mithrin]

Back when Discover did their annual Christmas deal of giving out gift cards when you spent enough $ in certain malls, I'd get a call halfway through my trip checking that I was the one using it. I understood since I rarely used my Discover for anything else, and now I'm suddenly spending hundreds all at once. I'm just glad that they had my cell number and called me rather than cut me off.

I also have had a charged declined at the grocery store. I was buying $250 worth of Southwest gift cards (5% cash back at grocery store, only 1% on other purchases). The cashier initially told me it was declined, but when I asked admitted it had brought up a message to call the company. I stepped out of line and called myself and got the purchase approved. Apparently, a large even dollar purchase at the grocery is a common fraud pattern (ID thieves stocking up on gift cards). Now I know to add a candy bar when buying gift cards in bulk.

[TheOtherMe]

My CC was declined in Vegas. I was checking in for a comped stay, but they needed a CC. I had another card that worked. When I got to my room I called the CC company. It had been declined because I hadn't called to tell them I was going out of state. Now I always make sure I call that CC company every time I am leaving the state.

[alabamagal]

The most recent time my debit card was declined was at a grocery store ($20 charge, way more than that in the account). I was stunned and didn't know what to do, so I just left. I then went by bank ATM and withdrew $20 (no problems, plenty of money). A week later similar thing happened at a small fast food resturant. We called our "personal" banker (we have a business also), and he said that they were having communication problems with some of the card processing stores. still PITA

Also one local grocery store here used to have lots of problems with their credit card machines. It would not read my debit card, although I used my debit card everywhere else, and no one else seemed to have any problems. I try to avoid that place, at least until they recently got new POS machines. One time they tried and tried to get my card to read, claimed they couldn't manually enter it, so I got out my checkbook and wrote a check for $6.66. As that is the sign of the devil, I decided it was my sign to stop shopping there.