If you don’t know why your ATM card was rejected, it can be disconcerting and worrying as well as awkward or humiliating in social settings. If you primarily use ATM cards for payments, having your card denied could prevent you from making regular transactions. Sounds irritating, doesn’t it?

Your card may be denied for a number of reasons, ranging from an unimportant human error to grave fraud. Here are a few of the most typical justifications to assist you to find an explanation.

1. Insufficient Funds

There are probably not enough funds on your ATM card, which is the most frequent cause of ATM card malfunctions. This implies that it’s worthwhile to check the balance twice, even if you believe your ATM card is declining while you have money.

Being caught at the register and having to mumble an embarrassed “you’re sure there’s enough money” is never pleasant. However, it’s alright because it happens occasionally and we’ve all experienced card declines.

• Also Read: Credit Card Benefits and Drawbacks

2. ATM Card Expired

Your expired ATM card will no longer be functional for transactions. If you haven’t received a replacement card from your bank a month or more before your existing card expires, it’s critical to phone your bank right away to find out what’s going on. It could have been a simple mistake, but it’s also possible that your card was taken from the mail.

In that scenario, it would be wise to inform your bank as quickly as possible so that they can take precautions to prevent the use of the other card.

• Also See: How To Start an ATM Business In India

3. The allotted daily transactions have been used.

When you hit a daily transaction cap on some cards, your ATM card will likely be denied even though you still have funds in your account.

For security purposes, these restrictions are in place to prevent someone from stealing your cards and utilizing them to irrationally spend all of your money. Because of this, banks often won’t advise you to raise this limit.

However, there are circumstances in which you might be required to. Call your bank to ask if it can be accomplished temporarily if this is one of those times. Just be sure to heed their customary recommendation to lower the limit once you’re finished.

4. Invalid PIN

Although it may seem simple, it’s conceivable that you just entered the incorrect PIN if your ATM card was denied.

I frequently forget which PIN is used for each card when I swap my “primary” card. Additionally, it’s possible that you just changed PINs, which is a common reason for confusion.

Give it another go and perhaps the next time you’ll use the right PIN because you normally have a few chances to input a PIN.

5. Too many PIN attempts fail

In keeping with the prior choice, if you’ve made an excessive number of unsuccessful PIN attempts, you may experience issues. If that’s what happened, you’ll need to call your bank to unlock it before your ATM card can function.

As a result, if you receive a warning that you’ve made too many unsuccessful PIN entry attempts and you haven’t used your ATM card today, it would be worthwhile to phone your bank to ask what has occurred. This is done to prevent fraud.

6. Damaged card

It’s also conceivable that your ATM Card is broken and isn’t functioning. Sometimes this is visible, particularly if the magnetic strip is visibly damaged or the automobile is more bowed than it should be. However, not all ATM card damage is obvious because, for instance, severe temperatures might alter how efficiently it functions. Simply ordering a new card is the best course of action here. If you visit the bank that is the nearest to you, it might help you get this done quickly. In addition, a few banks also allow you to enter your details online. Once that gets verified your ATM card arrives right at your home.

7. The transaction has been marked as suspicious by the bank.

Your bank may have temporarily stopped your card as a result of a transaction it deemed suspicious. In all honesty, it can be difficult to predict when this will take effect. Calling your bank and explaining that you are the cardholder and that you are okay with the transaction going through will generally have this sorted quite fast. To ensure that your account remains banned, call your bank right immediately if you receive an alert for a particular transaction but are not presently using your card. Making sure that your account gets banned is to make sure that no fraud activities happen and your money remains safe.

8. The bank has found additional questionable activity connected to your account.

Sometimes the bank’s concern may not have been about a single transaction in particular. Instead, your ATM card may no longer function due to other questionable activities involving your account.

It’s preferable to contact your bank to resolve this, as it is with several other choices on this list. It’s possible that something went wrong, but it’s also quite likely that someone attempted to get into your account in some way. Fraud activities have skyrocketed in the past decade so better make sure that your money is untouched.

9. Technical Difficulties

Even though it may sound like a lame excuse, “technical problems” are a rather frequent cause for your ATM card to be refused, even if you have money.

Maybe there is a major Visa ATM card outage, for example, you’ll undoubtedly hear about it in the news. If the ATM card machine in a business isn’t functioning properly there could be problems with your bank.

Bottom Line

ATM card rejections can be upsetting and embarrassing. Although some declines are beyond your control, the majority can be prevented by implementing a few straightforward safety measures. It is advantageous to travel with a backup payment option, and a credit card is a fantastic pick because of its benefits and versatility. Additionally, as always, contrast your available ATM card selections to discover the one that best suits your spending style.