Credit Card Declined When You Try to Book Travel

Is Your Credit Card Declined When You Try to Book Travel? 

When you book travel online, often times you are making “high-ticket” purchases, meaning spending hundreds of dollars on flights, hotels, tours, and similar services. Using a credit card is the most common way of paying for these reservations online. But how many times have you gone through all the steps required to complete such a purchase, only to have your credit card declined at the very end for no apparent reason? This can be discerning and certainly frustrating. You know you have enough funds on your card, so what’s the problem?

Some Common Reasons Why Your Credit Card is Declined

• Suspected fraud, especially when your normal spending habits do not include large purchases
• You’re trying to charge a gambling deposit, or buying cryptocurrency
• Your card already has a hold placed on it. This typically occurs for travel-related charges such as a hotel or rental car company deposit. Certain merchants make this charge to make sure you have enough credit on your account to complete the transaction and to protect themselves from risk. Once the transaction is completed, they will remove the hold on your account.
• If you are an authorized user on someone else’s account and you are unknowingly removed as a user on the account. 
• You have made a typo when entering your credit card information, such as wrong number, or billing address, or your card has expired. Be sure to carefully check and double check that the information you enter is correct.
• The transaction was blocked by Visa Secure (formerly called ‘verified by Visa’) or Mastercard 3D secure

Luckily, most issues can be resolved by calling your credit card issuer. 

When this happens, the first thing most of us will do is call the number on the back of your card. If you have enough funds in your account, the issue most likely is that your credit card company found the charge suspicious and their protection algorithm declined your card out of an overabundance of caution. Credit card companies are often hypervigilant when it comes to detecting suspicious activity. While fraud detection can help catch and stop suspicious activity, it can also lead to declining perfectly legitimate purchases.

Normally, when you speak with a representative from your credit card company, they will transfer you to fraud protection so they can clear the block and you can try again to make the purchase. But the situation can get frustrating when they tell you that they are not seeing any attempted charges. When this happens, the problem likely lies with Visa Secure (formerly called ‘verified by Visa’) or Mastercard 3D secure, or other culprits that stand between you and your purchase through an international travel website. 

What Exactly are Verified By Visa and MasterCard SecureCode?

Essentially, they are third party ‘watchdogs’ that are common on many internet booking sites, particularly with international travel sites. Some financial institutions will use an extra security step known as “Verified by Visa” or “MasterCard SecureCode” to authenticate internet purchases. If your financial institution uses these services, you will be redirected to their site in order to complete the purchase. 

If you have not previously set up your Verified By Visa or MasterCard SecureCode account, you'll need to provide information to your card issuer to confirm your identity and then create your password. When making future purchases, only your Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode password will be required during checkout. 

What To Do When This Happens To You

When you call your credit card company and they tell you there were no charge attempts, it may mean that the charge was blocked before it even got to the bank. When the representative transfers you to the fraud protection department, often times they are not familiar with international transactions and will tell you that the problem is on the merchant’s side, maybe a problem with their website or online procedures. But this is rarely the case. If this happens to you, insist to the representative that you speak to their department that handles Verified by Visa, Visa Secure, or Mastercard 3D secure. 

There will be times when you get a credit card company representative on the line who are not familiar with these names and will simply give you an excuse that everything is OK with your account and to try again. However, if you do try again and the transaction still does not go through, hang up and try your credit card customer service line again until you get someone who does know these terms and can unblock your card successfully through Verified by Visa, Visa Secure, or Mastercard 3D secure. Then your transaction will either go through successfully, or it will prompt you for a code which will then be sent to you via e-mail or your phone in order to complete the purchase.

Additionally, it may be helpful to nip the problem in the bud and call your credit card company first, to tell them you are about to make a big purchase online. Either way, using the steps above will ensure you have a successful online transaction the next time you go to book your travel online.