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Thread: Money put on hold when customer card is declined

  1. #1
    toofast is offline Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    Cherry Hill, NJ, USA
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    239

    Default Money put on hold when customer card is declined

    don't know if anyone else is having this issue, but it is common. I researched and it looks like any time a customer uses their DEBIT CARD (not credit card) and their card is declined, their bank will put a hold on that amount of money for a few days (sometimes up to 3 weeks!).

    This has nothing to do with your merchant provider, it is the customers bank that puts a hold on the funds. This could be a very serious issue for your customer if you're selling big ticket items. We've had customers complain that their bank is holding $1500 of their money because their debit card was declined on our site!

    So, i'm wondering what the best solution is to this issue. Any suggestions? A couple options i see are....

    1. Setup ADNSF so it is impossible for a customer to attempt a 2nd purchase after their card was declined once
    2. Somehow set ADNSF to not accept debit cards
    3. Put some kind of warning near the place order button
    4. Do nothing and just deal with it

  2. #2
    AspDotNetStorefront Staff - Scott's Avatar
    AspDotNetStorefront Staff - Scott is offline Administrator
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Ashland, OR
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    2,390

    Default

    I would think you would want to be really careful about option 1. If a customer enters their CCV code wrong by mistake and you don't allow them a second chance....well one of your competitors probably will.

    #2 would be tricky, if not impossible. Most gateways don't distinguish between debit cards and credit cards anymore if they're from the major issuers, especially for online transactions.

    #3 or #4 is probably going to be your best bet. Putting a warning on the page somewhere and making it very clear that the bank is doing that - not your site - would probably work. I would make it pretty discreet though, no sense scaring folks.

    Once more gateways pick up the new MasterCard & Discover rules, this'll probably get simpler. One of the new requirements is that you be able to release holds on funds immediately.