Why was my credit card payment declined?

An explanation of various reasons why your credit card payment may have been declined.

Andy avatar
Written by Andy
Updated over a week ago

We use a third-party processor to screen all payments, and sometimes payments are declined for various reasons.

If your credit card was declined, here are a few possible reasons.

  • The credit card may be expired. Check the expiration date on your card.

  • The billing information may be incorrect. Verify that your credit card's billing name, address, ZIP code, and CVV number are correct. The CVV number is a three-digit code printed on the back of most credit and debit cards.

  • You may need to clear your browser's cache and cookies. Sometimes, browsers will cache errors from previously failed attempts and prevent the transaction from going through. Remove your payment method, clear your browser's cache and cookies, and process your payment again.

  • The transaction timed out. If the payment service is busy processing other transactions, your transaction could time out. Don't worry, your card won't be charged if there's a timeout. If the transaction times out, try again in a couple of minutes.

  • The credit card is brand new or has a low spending limit. Call your issuing bank to see if you need to increase your spending limit. Sometimes, banks will start new accounts with a low-security limit for fraud protection and may reject some purchases.

If you know that your credit card number or expiry date has changed, you should immediately update it here, and we will retry the payment again in 24 hours. Otherwise, if your card details cannot be updated, you should create a new Premium subscription.

Tips to increase the chances of your payment being approved

  • In the name field, if your credit card says "Mr Paul Jones" or "Mrs Paula Jones" for example, drop the "Mr" or "Mrs" and simply write Paul Jones or Paula Jones.

  • Please remove any unnecessary formatting, such as apostrophes, commas, and odd characters in your name and address details.

  • Please ensure that your zip code is filled out correctly - this is your postal code in other countries. If you do not have a zip code, try leaving it blank, or writing 00000.

  • If your transaction attempts are continually declined, please try using another card, or send us the Transaction ID error code so we can investigate further.

Still declined? Try purchasing through an Official FileFactory Reseller

When you purchase an account from a Reseller, they will email you a token code you can redeem after signing into your FileFactory account, which will automatically upgrade your account to Premium. Please note that buying through a Reseller may not process your transaction immediately.

If you have a problem with a Reseller or have not received your token code, don't hesitate to contact the Reseller directly through their support system and allow up to 24 hours for them to respond.

You can see our list of Official Resellers here:
http://www.filefactory.com/reseller

Remember, the most common reasons for having your credit card declined are:

  • the address details not matching those of the cardholder

  • a wrong credit card number or expiry date

  • incorrect security code

It is also possible that your bank may decline the transaction for no specified reason at all, depending on their security settings.

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