When a card is declined

A refused card is shown where you are, not on a separate page and not as a silent failure.

What you see

The app reads the reason your bank or card issuer gave and shows that, rather than a generic message. If no reason came back, it falls back to telling you the payment was not completed and to try again.

If the attempt was part of a plan change or a subscribe wizard, you are put back on the payment step with the reason already on screen, so the next attempt is one click away.

If the payment method sent you off to another site and the failure happened there, the outcome is picked up when you return and shown at the top of the page.

What to do

Read the reason first. Most refusals are one of a few things:

• The bank declined it. Only your bank can tell you why, and only your bank can clear it.
• The card confirmation step was not completed. Start again and complete the check when it appears.
• The card details were wrong. Re-enter them.

Then try again. Nothing is charged by a refused attempt, and a refused attempt does not consume anything on your account.

What not to do

Do not pay twice. If you are unsure whether a payment went through, check the “Billing” page before trying again: a successful payment that is still activating looks different from one that failed, and the app distinguishes them.

A note on currency

A payment can also be refused before it ever reaches your bank, if the currency you were quoted is not the one the account would be charged in. That is not a card problem and it is handled differently. See Which currency you are billed in.