"declined" card transactions being "approved"??

caffeine_demon

Hi,

I've gotten into a bit of confusion with card transactions for various tickets I've been buying for a holiday in america.

Over the past few days I've had a transaction for an internal flight, and a transaction for an amusement park season ticket declined, due to "unmatched address", I ordered the flight through a different website, and was successful second time there.

However - when ringing the credit card company yesterday they tell me that both these transactions have been "approved", and I'm a bit concerned about having a double flight booking.

A quick online search, and a little memory of similar customer situations from one of my last workplaces makes me think this is just down to a difference between the banks "approved" status, and the merchants "approved" status

As I understand it - when you make the transaction, the first check is made by the bank, to see if you have sufficient funds - the banks "approved" status means you have enough, and it's earmarked them for debiting when the merchant asks.

The next checks are made by the merchant, mainly against "address". if it fails here, the merchant won't request payment, and I'll get the rejected message, BUT - the bank won't know about this and keep the transaction as "approved".

Is this correct? and would I be right in thinking that the merchant won't try the payment again, once it's been rejected, and that it won't appear on my statement?

many thanks

rartherinv

You seem to know a lot more about banking processes than us. So my layman's advice... you need to immediately call ticket company to clarify that you have only booked once. cheers, hope it works out!

sharpy2010

You are correct, this is exactly how the system works. A merchant doing a "card/customer not present" transaction can choose to allow the sale to go through even if its just a SEC match (the CVV number on the back of the card), and the address doesnt match.

Over the internet (as you have done) its slightly different, and if not everything matches, then the transaction will approve at the bank (holding the funds in an "authorised" status), but decline with the merchant.

Within 10 days that authorisation will have dropped off, and the funds available to use again.