How do I solve a failed card payment?

bunq · Dec 31, 2019

Hey bunqers 🌈

If your online, contactless, or card payment fails, there could be several possible reasons for this. Here's a detailed guide to help you indicate and fix the problem:

Read the error on the POS terminal

If a payment fails on a POS terminal, an error message with the exact reason may appear. Some errors specify the issue, while others are generic. This could mean the card isn't accepted. Try another card or use Google/Apple Pay.

Check your balance

Check if the Bank Account linked to your card has enough funds to cover the payment. You can check which Bank Account your card is linked to by following these steps:

Go to the 🏠Home tab
Tap on your card
Tap on Pay From
See which Bank Account is your card linked to

Review your card’s settings

Follow these steps to see your card’s settings:

Go to the 🏠Home tab
Tap on your card
Tap on ⚙️ Settings

Then look at the following security features:

Daily Limit: Check if your daily spending limit is lower than the payment amount. If needed, tap on the limit and increase it to successfully make the transaction.
Allowed Countries: Verify that the country where you're making the payment is included in your allowed countries. If not, tap to adjust the settings and add the necessary countries.

Validate your card’s details (online payments)

Check the following card details and ensure you’re typing them in correctly:

Card number: Double-check that all digits are entered correctly.
CVC code (security code on the back of the card): The 3-digit security code located on the back of your card.
Expiration date: Confirm that the date is correct and has not expired.
PIN: Confirm that you’ve entered the correct PIN.
3DS2/Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) - You can authorize payments easily via a push notification from the bunq app. If a merchant hasn’t implemented this correctly, your payment might fail.

Internet and connectivity

For online payments: Ensure you have a stable internet connection.
Contactless payments: If the terminal’s connectivity experiences issues, your payment might fail. You can ask the merchant to try once again.

Blocked merchant

If a payment to the same merchant fails more than 3 times in an hour, transactions to them are blocked for 60 minutes for security reasons. This may happen due to incorrect card details or issues on the merchant's end.

Wait an hour before trying again and disable the rotating CVC feature in your card settings to ensure the correct CVC is used.

Retry the payment

Wait a few minutes before trying the payment again. If you’ve used contactless, try inserting the card into the terminal instead.

Stay informed about card limits

👀 PIN and Online Card Transactions

Default limit: €1,000 per day
Maximum limit: €50,000 per day

💳 Contactless Transactions

€50 per transaction that doesn't require a PIN code
€150 for cumulative transactions that don't require a PIN code (if you reach this amount or after 5 contactless payments, you just need to insert your card into the terminal and enter your PIN and the daily counter will reset. When a country is enabled in your card settings, the local contactless limit will apply.

ATM Withdrawals

€500 daily limit set for all bunq cards. Keep in mind that the ATM might have its own limit too.