Increase in cards being declined - anyone else noticed this?

[tulips27]

I was in the queue for the checkout in M&S yesterday and someone's card was declined in front of me and I suddenly realised I've been seeing it more and more often recently. One notable example was in Morrison's where the self checkout loudly announced "sorry, your card has been declined" which I thought was a bit embarrassing for the guy in question. I mean, surely it could be a lower volume or something? I'm going to mute the self-checkout every time I use it now.

Anyone else noticed this?

I don't think anything of it when someone's card is declined because these days the reason tends to be because they need to put their card into chip & pin. Happened to me on several occasions. My card also declined last week, simply because I had forgot to transfer money from one account to the other.

I don't automatically assume people don't have money to cover the cost when their card declines.

That's a security feature. They need you to use the pin every now and then to verify you still have possession of the card as anyone can use it with contactless

It's a security thing. If you are paying contactless they need the pin to be entered every now and then to confirm it is your card. I especially notice it if I have not used my card in a while.

No, I work in a pub and they get declined all the time - very rarely if not never do the people genuinely have no money. If your account is low you generally know and shop accordingly. Usually it's a contactless issue, sometimes people have multiple cards and have used the wrong one or their Apple Pay has selected the wrong one, it's picked up the wrong card in a wallet etc

I don't think it's embarrassing to be told card declined. Poor people tend to be very aware of exactly how much they have down to the penny. If I hear card declined for a customer ahead of me I assume it's the annoying but necessary security checks that require a pin entry after so many contactless taps or that the shop's machine is playing up.

Mine declined last week after I put it in the washer and dryer by accident.

My new cards declines 2 out of 3 contact less its annoying and always goes through when i do the pin. Nearest bank is now 50 mins drive away so inwill just have to put up with it.

This is why the volume is the way it is on these tills op, the amount of people who do walk away thinking they’ve paid when it hasn’t gone through is quite high. So is the amount of actual thieves who pretend they’re paying and walk off, it’s not to embarrass you, it’s to alert the staff. They can print off the transaction and then there’s a time stamp for the cctv.

It's due to the increased contactless limit being £100 in most places now, so people are using contactless for pretty much every everyday purchase, and depending on who you bank with, after every 3, 5 or 10 purchases using the contactless method, you will be prompted to enter your PIN. When the contactless limit was £30, people were more often than not, spending over that, so having to enter their pin more regularly anyway, so payments under the lower contactless limit weren't as likely to get refused and prompted for the pin.

Yes. DH's card rejected. My two CC's rejected. I used my debit card and it went through. This was for diesel at ASDA (or ASDAL as they say arround here)

Its definitely increased with more contactless pyts it generally checks every 5 or so transactions and gets you to insert card and pin so not technically a decline and yes I don't think its acceptable to call it a decline - it should just ask for your pin but thats not how the software is set to work - embarrassing your client doesn't seem to be a priority for the banks unfortunately. Thankfully I have more than one to use. Doesn't fix the problem of trying to remember so many pins and passwords though...

I had no idea you could mute the self checkout, how do I do this OP?

Probably the contactless element in play.

Fraud is at an all time high, and banks are just being very cautious with every transaction. Mines been declined recently online and at shops, despite having ample funds. It’s a sign of the times we live in now I’m afraid. And fraudsters will ramp it up now there’s a cost of living crisis, as they will want to pull money in.

No, but I have noticed an increase in people talking about prices at the supermarket and people going to pick something up, looking in horror at the price and deciding not to pick it up.

this was me yesterday!

I've got a Monzo card so sometimes it will when there's not enough so I just have to add the money on from another account

Well many systems just decline the card if you are using contact less. It would be less heartstrings if it just said you need to enter your pin tbh.
I still always have 2 cards on me at all times!

My card gets declined at Sainsburys 75% of the time. It always works the second time I tap though.
Doesn't happen anywhere else.

I had this, card reader declined my card before I'd even been able to key in the pin! Server asked me quite rudely what kind of card it was, as if I was fobbing him off with a fake one! So I used Google pay instead. Went in the next shop and card worked fine 🙄

Yes! There is a limit on how many times your card can be used before you need to put it in and use pin number. I only knew as it kept happening so had to contact the bank

I think it is due to the increase in contactless payments generally, as you get asked to refresh the pin peridocially, so the more contactless payments being done, the more times people are asked for the pin.

The card is not being 'declined' in the same way as it is when there is no money in the account.

Although twice resetting with pin hasn't worked so thankfully I had credit card!!

I have been having the same for the last four weeks or so. Always for very small transactions too, Have to put the card in and put in pin.

Contactless doesn't work as well as it used to. Lots more 'please insert card' instead!

Which can be misled to someone's card being declined...

More often than not my debit cards will be declined on contactless.