Why my payment did not go through.

Downtime

All banks have their own downtimes in place. Some of these are scheduled ones while others are unscheduled. For instance, when you are trying to initiate an RTGS payment after banking hours, your transaction might fail because these payments only occur within specific banking hours. This is not technically a downtime, but more on the lines of a ‘banking holiday’ On the other hand, if you’re trying to initiate a UPI payment, you are less likely to see an error message as these payments occur at all times of the day and night. However, UPI also has scheduled downtime for certain periods, which is usually stated in advance by the bank.

Sometimes, banks may also have an unscheduled downtime that has occurred due to a server error. When this occurs, the reason for the transaction being declined is very simple – the payment gateway simply cannot reach your bank for authentication and is, therefore, declining the transaction.

Incorrect data

Often, the reason for a declined transaction can be a simple one – you entered incorrect data, due to which the transaction could not be authorized. This occurs most commonly when we’re in a hurry and aren’t really paying a lot of attention to the information we’re punching in. The following are examples of the transaction being declined when you enter the wrong data: Entering the wrong OTP or password can lead to an error message saying that your transaction could not be authorized. You can click the button that says, ‘resend OTP’ and try again It might also happen that OTP does not get delivered to your messages inbox and the transaction time expires. In this case as well you can click on the ‘resend OTP’ button If your card does not have the required balance, or if you have entered an incorrect CVV number or expiry date, then you’ll see a message saying ‘not captured’

Security concerns

Finally, another reason why an online transaction can be declined is because your transaction has flagged a few security concerns. The parameters for being flagged vary from bank to bank and some may have highly aggressive measures in place when it comes to security, while others may be a little laxer in comparison. Something as simple as a bank feeling that a transaction does not match your typical spending patterns can lead to the transaction being put on hold or declined altogether. There are many reasons why the transaction can be declined. Some of these are: Risk: If there is a security threat from the side of the issuing bank, this can lead to the transaction being declined. An example of a case when this happens is when a card is only marked for domestic use and is being used for an international website. In such cases, the transaction is declined Payment gateway rejection: At times, the payment gateway that you are using may reject your transaction. This often happens because certain merchants may have an upper limit on transactions. If the transaction exceeds that amount, it gets declined. In such cases, the consumer has to make multiple transactions until the desired amount is reached BIN rejections: The BIN stands for Bank Identification Number and is generally the first 6 digits of the card. These digits generally signify the network and the bank that the card in question comes from. Some BINs are blacklisted due to the threat of fraud. If your BIN belongs to the Blacklist, then the transaction gets rejected There can also be a range of other issues that may occur, for instance, poor internet connection, the two-factor authentication not occurring correctly, or the connection timing out due to a slow response from the initiator’s end. In such cases, the customer must start from the payments page again by clicking the retry button to initiate the payment process again. Once the process is completed, you will receive a text message saying that your payment was successful. Your bank will also text you to inform you about the amount that has been debited, and the amount left in your balance! Overall, try as we might, failures in online payments are not entirely avoidable. But understanding the reasons can help you make payments in a much easier manner