What should a merchant tell you when your purchase doesn’t go through? More specifically, what is a merchant’s responsibility when it comes to handling credit card “declines” when those “declines” are unlikely to be because a purchase was “disapproved?”

To be clear, there is a difference between a credit card purchase not “going through” and a “disapproval” of a purchase.

The most common reason for credit card purchases not going through has to do with breaks in the transmission of electronic data. In this case the merchant receives neither an approval or a disapproval.

While a merchant may not be responsible for what an electronic system does or doesn’t do, that merchant is responsible for what he says to the customer when those bad swipes happen.

Unfortunately, a merchant will most likely tell you, his customer, that the purchase was “declined,” or “turned down” or “didn’t go through” yet, in the scenario I described in a previous post, none of those statements are true.

The worst consequence of these false statements, however, is that these descriptions all suggest to the customer that none of those swipes have had any effect on his credit card account or credit limit when, in fact, they have.

In fairness and in the interests of accuracy, a merchant should tell a customer whose card has just been declined that the bad swipe might have produced an approval but, for some reason, the approval has not been delivered/received. The merchant could also add that, if the swipe went through, then there has been a deduction against the customer’s available credit for that amount.

Furthermore, if the merchant has made more than one swipe and they all have gone through (even though the merchant hasn’t received confirmation of it) all those approved, authorized purchases are waiting to be posted to your account.

Merchants know that this happens often enough, yet they choose not to tell you about it.

I expect they don’t mention it because the merchant knows that, in doing so, he could create a hassle for himself. He might be busy and have little time to explain the ins and outs of credit card purchase declines.

Or he might be afraid he’ll give you the impression that he uses inferior or malfunctioning equipment which might annoy you. He may fear that the two of you might find yourselves in a disagreeable conversation which could negatively impact other customers in his store. Worst of all, he might fear losing you as a customer.

So, instead of mentioning this possibility, the merchant will most often keep swiping your card knowing full well that he or she could be creating a hassle for you.

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When your credit card doesn’t work, do not pull out another credit card. Instead call your credit card company to find out what’s going on. This is the way to avoid bigger problems.

That continues to be my oft-repeated advice yet, over and over again, I talk with credit cardholders who do not follow this advice. They don’t follow it because they are embarrassed or flustered when their cards don’t work. Plus there is always pressure on them from the merchant to just pull out a second card.

Don’t ever give in to that pressure. Allow me to illustrate why not by going back to our restaurant example from my last post.

Let’s say that you have just treated your spouse to a lavish and romantic meal in a candle-lit bistro on your anniversary. Your heart is full of love as you gaze at your spouse and your mind is elsewhere.

As a result, you barely glance at the bill before handing it and your credit card to the waiter. The waiter sees that your generous tip has brought the bill total to $149.40.

Having conversed with you during your meal, and having tried to make your anniversary meal as special as possible, the waiter goes back, swipes the card and is mortified when your purchase is not approved. He does not want to bring this bad news back to you. Also, being relatively new, he is afraid that he has done something wrong. His first impulse is to flag down a seasoned co-worker. They stare at the device and the co-worker says, “Try it again,” which he does.

No luck. So he flags down the manager who hates technology, fiddles with it, and tries swiping the card himself. “It’s no good,” he says. “Ask for another card.”

The waiter comes back, informs you the purchase didn’t go through and says, “If you’ll just give me another card, I’ll run it right through and be right back.”

Now, I know it’s your anniversary and you want to leave, but it’s time to temporarily switch gears.

Do not hand him another card, no matter how badly you want to get out of there. Instead, call your credit card company even if you have to borrow the restaurant’s phone.

Now, when you first call your credit card company to find out what the problem is, you will hear your balance recited to you at the beginning of the call and then you will hear the amount of available credit you have left.

Whether you are listening to a “voice mail” voice that is reciting these facts or you are speaking with a live person, pay attention to see if there is a discrepancy between the two amounts.

For instance, let’s say that you have a credit card account with a five-thousand-dollar credit limit.

You hear that your balance is $2,503.61 and your available credit is $2,048.19.

What’s wrong with this picture?

You probably caught it right away. $2,503.61 plus $2,048.19 does not equal $5,000.00. Those two amounts equal $4,551.80 which means there is a $448.20 discrepancy on your account. Now how could that happen?

Remember the amount of the bill? It was $149.40. What happens when you divide $448.20 by $149.40?  You get 3, the number of times your card was swiped in an attempt to get approval for your anniversary dinner purchase.

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There are 10 basic reasons for credit card declines.  And, every day, credit card call centers get call after call from customers whose credit cards will not work or have been otherwise declined because of one of these reasons.

This is a scenario I’ve discussed before. You go to a restaurant, have a nice dinner, and hand over your card in order to pay the bill. The waiter comes back with the card and tells you that your credit card was declined.

Sometimes the waiter will recite a reason why your credit card purchase was declined. He or she may be correct as in “It looks like your card is expired.” Regardless, the rule as you probably know by now is this: Do not assume anything when your credit card is declined. Instead, call your credit card company to find out what’s going on.

To prepare you for that phone call, here is a list of the ten basic reasons for credit card declines and their “solutions.”

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