Why was my card declined?

When a payment is declined, the app shows a notification with a short code. The code tells you why. Most declines are fixed in under a minute.

Code	Meaning	What to do
V-05	No single balance in your spend order covers the full amount.	Top up, or move a larger balance higher in your spend order. We never split one payment across two assets.
V-12	The payment would exceed a limit.	Check the remaining limit in Settings, Limits. Limits reset at 00:00 UTC.
V-31	The merchant category is blocked.	Gambling, lotteries and crypto purchases at other exchanges are blocked on every card and cannot be unblocked.
V-44	An online payment was not approved in the app in time.	Approval requests expire after 5 minutes. Retry the payment and keep the app open.
V-51	The card is frozen, or the setting needed for this payment is off.	Check the card’s controls: online, contactless, ATM and abroad switches.
V-61	The merchant is in a restricted country, or a phone-location rule declined it.	See the country list, or turn off location matching.
V-90	A temporary problem on our side or the card network.	Try again after a minute. If it repeats, contact support.

Declined with no notification

If the terminal declines and the app shows nothing, the request did not reach us. This usually means the terminal is offline or the card was inserted rather than tapped on a terminal that has trouble reading metal cards. Ask to tap, or use your phone wallet.

Hotels, car hire and petrol stations

These merchants often reserve more than you will spend. A fuel pump may reserve $150 for a $40 fill. The reserved amount must be covered by a single balance at the moment of authorisation. The difference is released when the merchant finalises, usually within 3 days and at most 7.

Three wrong PIN entries in a row block chip-and-PIN payments for 24 hours. Contactless and online payments keep working. You can view your PIN in the app.

Was this not what you needed? Contact support or go back to the help centre.