PSA - credit card transactions declined without notification

[SKL]

Did you know that your credit card payments can be canceled by the card company without your knowledge?

I paid a speeding ticket online a few weeks ago.  On the same day, I got an email saying "we have noticed unusual activity on your account - did you make all these payments?  Click Yes or No.  I clicked Yes, and then received an email saying thanks for confirming.  To me, that meant the transactions were going to go through.  (This is not the first time I've done these confirmations and they always went through AFAIK.)

So yesterday, I got a letter saying I didn't pay my speeding ticket and now I have an additional penalty.  I look it up everywhere and can't find proof of the payment.  It's not on my credit card statement.  The only proof I can find that I paid it was that email saying "is this transaction real."

I called the credit card place, and apparently they did decline the payment despite my confirmation, and never bothered to inform me.

It isn't a huge deal here, but what if it was something more important?  This could be a real problem for someone.

Interestingly, of the 3 transactions they checked on, one went through as normal.  That was not really an unusual payment though.

Just thought people would like to know that if they are asked to confirm they made a payment, if it's important, they should check later and see if it actually went through.

[Butter]

Yes, they usually have fine print that says to have the merchant try again (some do automatically, so that could be why the one went through).  If they flag for fraud the charge is automatically denied.  We just had Chase flag and decline a charge from HomeDepot.Com... three times.

[Liz CA]

Good to know. I've had those emails asking "is this your transaction" and always thought once I clicked "Yes" it was a done deal.

[Kanin]

Ugh, that could be really bad, especially with things like loan payments... scary.

[Annie G]

That would annoy me!  What is the credit card company’s excuse for declining it after you gave the ok? 

[Carol in Cal.]

Wow, I just got one of these the other day.  Better check with the vendor.

And really, any credit card company that is paying attention should not be surprised by a charge for yarn.  That is ridiculous.

ETA:  And, relatively speaking, this one was only medium.  Not large.  It wasn't setting any records.  

[Ravin]

I got a similar inquiry (is this valid yes/no) from Paypal. I was driving at the time so didn't see it until I stopped a couple of hours later. By then, when I hit "no" it said I was too late. I then went on and found a second, larger purchase as well. Someone is playing minecraft on my dime. No bueno. I disputed the transaction. Hopefully it resolves quickly with Paypal.

[Scarlett]

Dh and I went to Dallas 2 weeks ago and had our card declined.  That wasn't the worst part....they then locked his card down and we couldn't use it the rest of the weekend. I called the Fraud unit Friday night and he said, 'yep it is locked down, sorry I can't help you.'  

I called our bank Monday morning and it took me half an hour to get them to understand the problem. They kept talking to me about suspicious activity on the card...we were out of town, the amount was high, the restaurant swiped it 8 times (because it kept declining!!!) and fraud is out of control...I said, I get all of that...but when you flag our card we should have a way to call in and  identify ourselves so that you can unlock it.  The first girl said, 'well we are closed on the weekend.'  FINALLY got someone to tell me the number to call if that happened again, so that we could get it unlocked.

 

Edited to add--And they claim they called us twice....turns out the number was to a place dh worked 2 years ago.  WHY they don't have my cell number I don't know since I have had the same number for 25 years and had that account for 30 years.  Regardless, I said, 'anyone could miss a call.  We need a way to call you to confirm who we are.'  

[Halftime Hope]

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I went to a restaurant to scope it out for a rehearsal dinner.  We paid for dinner, then decided to put down a deposit.  The manager swiped my card and t was declined!  Holy Toledo, that was not good. The CC company had suspected fraud (small charge for dinner, followed by a larger charge), so instead of calling or texting, they declined it.  Made me look really good to the manager...hmmmph.

[brehon]

On the other hand, I recently received one of the “are these charges authorized?” letters and two of the charges were not - they were for $4000 and an international transaction fee. I clicked “no” and called my cc company. The woman who answered said the charge had been blocked and wouldn’t go through. She cancelled my card and issued me a new one.

A week later I found the $4000 “charity donation “ + international transaction fee on my account. Even though I called and the first CSR said the charges were blocked. I called again and the man said they couldn’t block those charges.  After going round and round for several minutes, he sent me a fraud/charge dispute form to fill out and email back. 

Just what I wanted to deal with during this most frustrating of weeks. 

 

 

[J-rap]

I know they can decline it (due to their suspicions about it being a fraudulent charge, which is both good and frustrating at times).  BUT, they've always notified me instantly when that happens.  Both by email and phone.  I wonder if you can sign up for notifications regarding this?

[SereneHome]

I check my cc and bank accounts daily and this is just one of the reasons why I do it.

[Liz CA]

3 hours ago, brehon said:

On the other hand, I recently received one of the “are these charges authorized?” letters and two of the charges were not - they were for $4000 and an international transaction fee. I clicked “no” and called my cc company. The woman who answered said the charge had been blocked and wouldn’t go through. She cancelled my card and issued me a new one.

A week later I found the $4000 “charity donation “ + international transaction fee on my account. Even though I called and the first CSR said the charges were blocked. I called again and the man said they couldn’t block those charges.  After going round and round for several minutes, he sent me a fraud/charge dispute form to fill out and email back. 

Just what I wanted to deal with during this most frustrating of weeks. 

 

 

 

Wow. That is some generous charity donation...hope it gets credited back to you asap.

58 minutes ago, Patty Joanna said:

 

THIS.  Thank you for the heads up.  Our credit card number is routinely stolen 7 days before Christmas EVERY STINKIN' YEAR--and the credit company always catches it...but I didn't know about this "exception."  Thank you.

 

 

Same here. We must be on the same hacker's list. Charges popped up on one of our cards that we do not use very often (all charged days before Christmas) and we did not notice it until the next billing cycle in January. 

[TechWife]

21 hours ago, Mainer said:

Ugh, that could be really bad, especially with things like loan payments... scary.

 

People make loan payments with credit cards?? I have no words.

[Barb_]

37 minutes ago, TechWife said:

 

People make loan payments with credit cards?? I have no words.

I would totally do this for the points. In fact, I’ve used my credit card for a partial down payment on a vehicle three times. Dealers have allowed up to $5k on a credit card. Volkswagen let me put $5k on my Hilton Amex and $5k on my southwest visa. I had the cash, but running the charges through my credit card first is to my benefit. I wouldn’t assume someone charging a loan payment to a credit card doesn’t have the money to pay it. 

Does anyone else remember when grocery stores first began accepting credit cards? My parents’ generation were aghast at first. I was working at Publix at the time and people would assure me they could pay for food; they were just gaming the air miles :D

[SKL]

Yeah, I don't have loans, but I pay my car insurance on my credit card.  That would suck if it didn't go through ....  Also my utility bills are auto pay on my credit card.

[Carol in Cal.]

I bought my last car with Paypal on an REI credit card.  That was a great year for the annual rebate!

[Butter]

20 hours ago, Annie G said:

That would annoy me!  What is the credit card company’s excuse for declining it after you gave the ok? 

They decline first and then ask you if it is fraud.

[SKL]

The emails don't make it clear that they have declined it.  They say "we noticed some unusual activity on your account.  Did you make these purchases?"  Maybe there is some fine print at the bottom or somewhere, but obviously it wasn't very clear because I never saw it in all the times this has happened to me.

The guy at the card company did say "hmm, maybe we should make it more clear in the email ... this is an opportunity for us ...."  I guess that is the language they use when they need to fix something.  Hopefully it gets fixed before anyone has a real disaster over this.

[Kanin]

I haven't yet been brave enough to pay student loans with a credit card, but I really should start. I could get a lot of rewards doing that! I just know that I'm really disorganized and forgetful with money stuff, so I don't really trust myself... even with auto pay, I feel like I could mess it up somehow!

[Annie G]

6 hours ago, Butter said:

They decline first and then ask you if it is fraud.

I’ve never had that happen. I’ve had them ask but then let it go through if I said it was legit. 

[EKS]

8 hours ago, TechWife said:

People make loan payments with credit cards?? I have no words.

What's wrong with that?  I'd be thrilled if I could make *all* of my payments with the credit card and then write just one check each month.  Or do whatever that electronic thingy is instead of checks these days.