Pre-paid gift cards (2024)

FAQs

Why does my prepaid card keep getting declined? ›

1. There isn't enough money on the card. With a prepaid card, you need to know your balance before spending to avoid declines due to low funds. For example, if you have $4.27 on your prepaid card, but try to buy a $5 item, the transaction will fail since the card balance is insufficient.

Your physical card has not been activated. (Note: Virtual cards do not require activation.) The card has expired. Insufficient funds are available on your card to cover the purchase, which may be influenced by a pre-authorization charge.

If the balance falls below the cut-off line, ask the cashier to pay you the balance of the gift card in cash.

Ensure that there are enough funds on your virtual prepaid card to cover the transaction. Some merchants may place authorization holds exceeding your card balance. For example, most gas stations have an authorization hold of $100 or more when a card is used at the pump.

Why might my debit card be denied even if I have money in the account? It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Your debit card may be denied due to overdrafting, reaching daily purchase limits, or your bank suspecting fraud.

There are only a few downsides to using prepaid cards, but they are significant. Prepaid cards come with fees. Cardholders may have a lot of fees, including activation fees, transaction fees, ATM withdrawal fees, reloading fees, monthly fees, or inactivity fees. Check the fine print on the card for fee types.

The most common reasons are that the card hasn't been activated, the cashier is running the wrong type of transaction, the dollar amount being charged is greater than the card's balance or the credit card processing machine is bumping up the charge amount to either place a hold on the card or to allow for a gratuity.

Visa gift cards are a one-time use gift card loaded with a predetermined amount chosen at the time of purchase. However, as they are prepaid cards, these accounts cannot be overdrawn. So, if you try to make a payment with insufficient funds, the Visa gift card won't work, and the payment will be declined.

After purchases are made with a gift card, there may be a small amount of money left—which, if not used, ends up as money wasted. You may pay purchase or reload fees to add money. Closed-loop cards limit purchasing power.

Can I return a gift card if it doesn't work? ›

Can you return a gift card? The ability to return a gift card depends on the store you bought it from. A lot of retailers (like Amazon, Target, Lowe's, and Sephora) state in their terms and conditions that their gift cards, both physical and digital, are nonrefundable.

There are a number of possible reasons why a purchase could be declined: You don't have enough money left on your card. You haven't activated or registered your card. The address you gave to make an online or phone purchase is different from the address you have on file with your prepaid card provider.

You may have had insufficient funds available in your funding source at the time you attempted the transaction with the merchant using your virtual card.

If you need help due to a declined transaction and have sufficient funds to cover the purchase, your Prepaid Card was most likely declined due to security and safety measures in place to protect your funds. Use your Card in-person or at a different merchant online and make sure to include the card security code.

Transactions can be declined for insufficient balance, wrong PINs, card status or other data mismatches. You don't have a sufficient balance for the transaction - check your balance in the app's dashboard.

If the purchase amount exceeds your balance, the transaction will be declined. You can notify the merchant that you would like to use multiple forms of payment, specify how much you'd like to put on your card, and then pay the difference with another card, cash, or check.

A transaction may be declined for several reasons—insufficient funds, mismatched address or unusual spending activity. Funds are set aside for transactions in process until the merchant is paid. Need to update your address? Go to Settings, Personal Info, Address to make updates.