This weekend I took my step brother out to lunch. I generally use my debit card to pay for things, unless I have cash. (Normally I don't carry a lot of cash) The waitress brings me back my card saying it was denied. Now, this bill was only $30. I was stunned. I knew I had money in the bank. So, I paid with cash. Luckily, I had enough on me! (I wasn't about to pull out a credit card! The girl would have thoughts I was nuts! LOL!)

I go straight to the ATM and check my balance and there is money. I take some out. Just weird! This has never happened to me! I don't know if I should call my bank or if this was just a fluke.

Has this ever happened to you?

By Heaventree on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 12:16 pm:

It could have been her machine, or the line might have been down, maybe she was new. I have asked people to try again up to three times and it did finally work.

I wouldn't worry about it.

By Juli4 on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 12:18 pm:

It has and it is annoying and embarrassing. I have went shopping at a few different stores and then when I go to the third store they will deny it even though I just used it. Something I have noticed though is that if you use it to pay bills and that sort of thing that something can go through on your debit card like a bill or a purchase from a day or two ago and it could reach your limit even though you have not spent much that day. Our limit is $250 and so we pay $150 worth of bills on monday and then Wednessday I go grocery shopping and can only spend $100 because my bills didn't go through until wednessday. It is frustrating.

By Melanie on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 12:19 pm:

Mine hasn't gone through at places when the magnetic strip is wearing off. Some places don't have machines that are as sensitive as ATM's. You may need to get a new card.

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 12:22 pm:

I had the same problem at the pharmacy this week with my HSA debit card. I just used it last week at the same pharmacy, but when I tried to pay for my prescriptions this week, the clerk told me the card was denied and I had to *use another method of payment*. Makes no sense to me...........

By Breann on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 12:31 pm:

This has happened to me too. It is embarrassing Some times technology just doesn't work right, I guess.

I have a prepaid card that I use sometimes. One time we went to TGIFridays. I put $40 on the card before we left knowing that it would be enough to cover dinner. Our bill came to something like $34.00. I gave the waitress the card and put cash on the table for a tip. She came back saying it was denied. I KNEW that there was enough on the card so I had her run it again. Again denied. So, I gave her my debit card and paid for it that way.
I immediately went home and checked my balance on the prepaid card and there was $40.00. It showed that they had denied the card two time that evening to TGIFridays in the amount of $42.00. Apparantly the restaraunt automatically adds on a certain percentage to each bill assuming that you will be tipping that much? Something like that. I wrote a letter to TGIFridays explaining how that has never happened to us before at any other restaraunt and how it was very embarrassing. They sent us a $30 gift certificate to their restaraunt and the manager called to apologize for the inconvenience.

Sorry for the long story. Just thought I'd share!

By Palmbchprincess on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 12:35 pm:

I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again, but the other posts are correct, it could be your card or a limit imposed by your bank. One thing my bank does is pre-auths for the amt, then the amt clears and the pre-auth is credited back to my account. It looks silly on my online banking, and I'm sure if I caught it at the right moment it might cause my card to be declined.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 01:16 pm:

I would call the bank. I know that one thing that happens is that restaurants and some other places will place a "hold" on your card for an amount significantly higher than the actual bill, and until this hold is released it is treated as a debit. I personally have never had this happen, but I have heard of it, and as a poster above points out, sometimes a restaurant will "automatically" add on what they think you will tip, without asking you. My experience in restaurants is they give me the bill, I add on the tip amount, and then they take my card to get it approved. But not every place works the same way.

If it were me, I would definitely call the bank and ask them just what happened and why, and how to prevent it from happening in the future. I wonder, if you had written a check, would the same thing have happened??? A good question to ask the bank.

I know that some banks have limits as to how much cash you can withdraw from an ATM in a given time frame, but that is not the same thing as an actual purchase. I have never heard of a limit on purchases in a given time period. It may be something the bank does to prevent fraudulent use of the card if it is lost or stolen, but still, you'd think they'd let you know in advance that this is their rule.

By Vicki on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 01:21 pm:

We tried to pay for a trip once and ours was denied because it was a higher dollar amount than they allowed, so I know there are limits, but that was a few thousand dollars! Unless you did tons of shopping that day, I wouldn't think you should have had a problem. I would also call the bank and see what the problem was. I know it is so embarrasing. When we were trying to book the trip and it was denied, they looked at me like a freak when I asked if I could write a check! LOL I am sure they hear "really, the money is in there" all the time. LOL

By Eve on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 01:42 pm:

Thanks, everyone. I think I will call the bank, just to be safe. Neither, my DH or myself have ever had any trouble with reaching our daily limit, if there is one. I have paid bills, including the mortgage online, and gone grocery shopping, and then out to dinner that night with no issues. I even did pay for our vacation with my card, and that was thousands too. No issue. Also, my card is new! Go figure. I just thought it was really strange. There was plenty of money. It wasn't like we just made a deposit and we were waiting for it to clear. I'm hoping it was just an error with the restaurant, or my banks computers were down for that moment. It's just never happened to me before! That's why I love my debit card! Anyway, I'm glad I'm not the only one. LOL!

By Pamt on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 01:55 pm:

We got an education in this earlier this year. DH's card was scanned at Arby's and didn't work, so they tried mine and it didn't work. We had to borrow cash from the kids--LOL. Went home and checked our account online and we had plenty of money. However, Arby's had run both of our cards a total of 40+ times through the machine so over $700 was "set aside" waiting for approval. It didn't get paid to Arby's, but we couldn't touch it either. It took all day get that resolved.

Fast forward...I started having trouble with my debit card. If I was somewhere where I had to enter my PIN it would go through. If I were at a restaurant or somewhere that they ran it as a credit then it would be declined. I finally went by the bank and they had put a "soft hold" on my acct. That means that I had suspicious activity on my card unlike my usual spending habits (i.e., $700 at Arby's), so my card could possibly have been stolen so no charges that didn't require my PIN went through.

So...because you just used it for your vacation it may have a "soft hold" on it. Yes, it is horribly embarrassing, but really no big deal once you clear it up. I just think the bank should call or send a letter if they are putting a hold on your debit. However, the bank said it is a way to get you to call them by having your card declined. Good luck!

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 04:53 pm:

Never happened to me before but now I'll beware that it might sometime! I never thought this was a possibility with a debit card.

By Mara on Wednesday, April 6, 2005 - 10:13 am:

You mentioned that the card was new. If it is brand new they told me at my bank that it has to be used at the ATM before it will work anywhere else.