Asda credit card blocked

paul2louise

I pay my balance in full every month on my Asda MasterCard.
I just bought a washing machine and fridge freezer from John Lewis
Then I wanted to pay for a holiday deposit. I know quite random but the holiday booking flagged up security problem and it blocked my card.
I am glad that the security it tight but it is black Friday week. It happened before when I had filled my car with petrol at Asda and my card got declined. Fortunately as I worked there they let me pay them on my next shift.
I couldn't get a reason that time why it blocked.
Is this normal. When people don't carry cash and rely on plastic it is worrying.

My credit limit is £5000
And the washing machine was 299 and fridge freezer 325, holiday deposit 150. So well under credit limit.

[Deleted User]

Yes it’s normal. Better safe than sorry.

Unusual transactions are usually blocked by some providers as a precautionary measure

Terry_Towelling

It is not completely clear whether your card has been blocked or whether your holiday transaction simply had its authorisation request declined. Which of the two is it? Also how do you know it was flagged as a security problem? Who told you that?

paul2louise

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

It is not completely clear whether your card has been blocked or whether your holiday transaction simply had its authorisation request declined. Which of the two is it? Also how do you know it was flagged as a security problem? Who told you that?

I couldn't book the holiday so I phoned Asda credit card and they said it was blocked as security measure. But they wouldn't or couldn't tell me why.

paul2louise

I had to unblock it with lots of security questions

eco_warrior

A single transaction could lead to a fraud alert or it could be a combination of them, its not really down to how “unusual” the transaction is as such.

Generally speaking the staff at the bank will be advised not to give this info out as its sensitive. Or they may not know themselves and just be given a generic thing to say.

I’ve worked with systems that gave each transaction a risk score which would accumulate as transactions occurred. Once a threshold was reached the card would block. So rapid or high spend would often flag up.

Also, fraudsters will tend to make the same fraudulent transactions across all the card details they have obtained until the banks catch on. Once a merchant trend has been identified the bank will start blocking some or all transactions to them, which stops the fraud and also customers genuine transaction, like holidays and iPads or whatever.

Fraud against airlines and holiday providers is common these days. Organised crime, trafficking etc.