Getting charged for a card payment that didn’t even go through can be confusing and frustrating. If your transaction was declined, you may wonder: Why am I being charged a fee?
Here’s what you need to know.
The decline fee is charged by our card provider, not by Accrue. When you attempt a card payment, the transaction is sent through the payment network for processing. Even when the payment is ultimately declined, the provider still incurs a processing cost for handling that attempt.
Think about a recurring subscription like Apple Music.
If your subscription tries to charge your card when there isn’t enough money available, the payment may be declined, but the payment attempt has already gone through the network, and the provider still incurs a cost for processing it. If the subscription automatically retries the payment, each retry is another payment attempt that can incur a processing cost.
This is why we’ve put safeguards in place to help you avoid unnecessary decline fees. Accrue notifies you when we detect declined payment attempts so you can take action before another retry happens.
How to avoid decline fees
The easiest way to avoid these fees is to make sure your Accrue Virtual Card has enough funds before making a payment.
It’s also worth checking your recurring subscriptions. Services like streaming platforms, software tools, and other subscriptions may automatically retry a failed payment without you actively making a new transaction.
Before a subscription renews, make sure your card is sufficiently funded. And if you no longer use a subscription, cancel it or update the payment method to prevent repeated failed attempts.
One more thing to remember
A declined transaction doesn’t mean there was no processing activity. The payment network still has to receive and process the attempted transaction, which results in the decline fee from the card provider.
Accrue doesn’t charge this fee to make money from declined transactions. Our card provider passes this cost on for processing the attempted payment.
So, before you tap, swipe, or pay online, check your balance. And if you have recurring subscriptions linked to your Accrue card, keep an eye on their renewal dates.
A little planning can help you avoid unnecessary decline fees.