If my credit card is declined...

Millys_Mum

am I entitled to receive a copy of the confirmation / receipt that it was declined?
It was a card payment over the phone.
It's a long story, but I need to prove that they entered incorrect details (as my bank have confirmed)

Willing2Learn

Hi Millys Mum and welcome to the forum

Why do you need proof? Is the transaction showing as 'pending' on your bank's online portal?

jonesMUFCforever

I believe a contract is only established after 1 you agree to buy and 2 you pay the agreed price.
If payment was declined then IMO you have no rights.

I can't remember the last time I ordered anything over the phone - could you not do it online where you input the card number?

Duckyduck

I think you need to explain a bit more of the backstory here. With more context people could advise better.

Terry_Towelling

If your bank knows that incorrect details were entered, then that must mean they saw an attempt by the retailer to obtain authorisation/clearance for the purchase. I would also presume that this all happened when you were on the phone to the retailer, so why did the retailer not check the details with you and try again - or did they?

To be honest, there is no reason why your bank cannot tell you why it declined the transaction. I guess they may adopt a position of not wanting to tell you but I cannot see why.

If they saw the authorisation request come through, that must mean the card number was correct, so the most likely errors of data transmission would be the expiry date or the CVV2 from the signature strip or, possibly, your postcode/house number if address checking were also used.

Perhaps your biggest hurdle in dealing with your bank will be in finding the right person to talk to with the necessary back-office knowledge and access to the right data records.

If you really want to press the issue (for example, if it were a time-critical payment you were trying to make) you may have to raise a formal complaint with your bank.

Yellow_mango

Was it a hotel booking on booking.com by any chance?

phillw

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

To be honest, there is no reason why your bank cannot tell you why it declined the transaction. I guess they may adopt a position of not wanting to tell you but I cannot see why.

It depends on what details were entered incorrectly. If it doesn't identify you then they may refuse under data protection, because it could be an incorrect transaction for someone else.

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

If you really want to press the issue (for example, if it were a time-critical payment you were trying to make) you may have to raise a formal complaint with your bank.

I'm not sure a bank can be held liable for damages in that case anyway, but raising a formal complaint is often worthwhile regardless.

Terry_Towelling

phillw wrote: »

It depends on what details were entered incorrectly. If it doesn't identify you then they may refuse under data protection, because it could be an incorrect transaction for someone else.

I'm not sure a bank can be held liable for damages in that case anyway, but raising a formal complaint is often worthwhile regardless.

Don't understand the data protection issue at all. We know it is OP's transaction because the bank has already confirmed they declined it due to incorrect details. That has to mean the card number was correct. All the issuer needs to do is be satisfied that OP is the account holder they are talking to. All OP wants to know is what aspect of the auth request was inaccurate - expiry date, CVV2, AVS data etc.

There is no suggestion (on my part) of holding the bank liable for anything - although I perhaps didn't make that clear enough. If the details submitted by the retailer were incorrect, then the mistake lies between OP and the retailer. The purpose of raising a complaint with the bank is because the bank has so far failed to state what data was incorrect (probably due to front-office staff not knowing how to obtain the appropriate info). Once OP has the answer they can take it up with the retailer.

Proving it was a retailer error is another matter because the transaction was conducted over the phone and we all know how easy it is to mishear things on the phone. What I can't understand is why the retailer didn't check the data with OP and try again, or why OP didn't press for this themselves - that's what normally happens and certainly what I would do.

The_Fat_Controller

I recently had a transaction declined and the website advised I should call my card issuer, no details from the retailer as to what was wrong.

Nationwide were extremely helpful and advised that the issue was ME entering an incorrect expiry date and that if I tried again there would be no issue, they even held on the line whilst I completed my booking.

If the card issuer in this case suspected fraud, I am sure the card would have been blocked and the customer contacted.

Terry_Towelling

The_Fat_Controller wrote: »

I recently had a transaction declined and the website advised I should call my card issuer, no details from the retailer as to what was wrong.

Nationwide were extremely helpful and advised that the issue was ME entering an incorrect expiry date and that if I tried again there would be no issue, they even held on the line whilst I completed my booking.

If the card issuer in this case suspected fraud, I am sure the card would have been blocked and the customer contacted.

The Fat Controller's case illustrates perfectly that the card issuer can easily advise exactly what data was incorrect.

No suspicion of fraud here though, but the transaction was a telephone order, so the scope for innocent errors is quite wide - misquoting by cardholder, mishearing by retailer, mis-keying by retailer, bad line etc.