Credit card lock from shopping at walmart?

[Fordiesel69]

I assisted an elderly person in our family with some shopping due to their limited mobilty and not being able to drive. After selecting some basic goods I chose to have them go thru a staffed checkout line. When they inserted their chipped mastercard into the card reader slot it displayed "Card Error". The cashier stated you have to insert 3 times then it will allow you to swipe it. After swiping, the message the cashier got was "vendor declined transaction".

The card was at that point locked.

Why did this happen?

 

[jeepman3071]

I assisted an elderly person in our family with some shopping due to their limited mobilty and not being able to drive. After selecting some basic goods I chose to have them go thru a staffed checkout line. When they inserted their chipped mastercard into the card reader slot it displayed "Card Error". The cashier stated you have to insert 3 times then it will allow you to swipe it. After swiping, the message the cashier got was "vendor declined transaction".

The card was at that point locked.

Why did this happen?

My guess is that inserting the card so many times flagged an error with your credit card company. Sounds to me like their card reader is broken and should be replaced.

 

[Fordiesel69]

And after 1.5 hours on the phone that is what the credit card company confirmed. But why does this happen? Isnt swiping allowed anymore?

 

[Pablo]

The new Walmart machines are a little picky, BUT if nothing was going through then it shouldn't have shut down.........more like partial connectivity or some decline error on either, or one of three places........

 

[JoelB]

My Wells Fargo card requires either tap to pay or inserting into the machine. Interestingly when I've had a chip wearing out I've been able to slide it after 2-3 attempts failing for the chip reader. Card was never locked.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Was this a large or unusual type purchase for them? If you try to buy something outside your "pattern" it can get locked pretty quick.

 

[Fordiesel69]

$350

 

[alarmguy]

Tip =
If you insert your card and it doesnt work or better said, whenever you insert your card push down on the part of the card sticking out of the reader, this exerts some upward pressure inside the reader that pushes the chip to make better contact.
This happens to a lot of guys who keep cards in their wallets but it cant also be jsut a tired reader or card. The cards become slightly bent/curved. By pushing down on the part of the card that sticks out forces the chip on the card inside the reader upwards to the reader contact.

You will be amazed how effective it is if you do this all the time.

 

[Hall]

The cashier stated you have to insert 3 times then it will allow you to swipe it. After swiping, the message the cashier got was "vendor declined transaction".

The card was at that point locked.

If a cashier tells you to do this, politely tell them no.

Why did this happen?

Card issuer or bank flags it as attempted fraud. I did the above once, on the advice of the store clerk, and this is exactly what happened. Called my credit union and they confirmed to me, "don't do that" and that yes, they automatically lock the card.

 

[racer12306]

Tip =
If you insert your card and it doesnt work or better said, whenever you insert your card push down on the part of the card sticking out of the reader, this exerts some upward pressure inside the reader that pushes the chip to make better contact.
This happens to a lot of guys who keep cards in their wallets but it cant also be jsut a tired reader or card. The cards become slightly bent/curved. By pushing down on the part of the card that sticks out forces the chip on the card inside the reader upwards to the reader contact.

You will be amazed how effective it is if you do this all the time.

This.

I do it every time. Haven't had a chip error in a long time and one of my cards has a nice curvature to it.

 

[Hall]

If you insert your card and it doesnt work or better said, whenever you insert your card push down on the part of the card sticking out of the reader, this exerts some upward pressure inside the reader that pushes the chip to make better contact.

I run into a similar thing but typically only at gas station pump card readers. They don't hold the card tight enough and after inserted and you let go, it moves maybe 1/16" and causes a chip read error. I never considered it being related to being curved from my wallet.... Just checked and it does have a very, very slight curve. I've just learned to keep pressure on the card to keep it in long enough.

 

[dlundblad]

It really doesn’t take much to set them off. I made 3 eBay transactions (chainsaw stuff) a couple minutes apart and my CC company did the same thing.

 

[John105]

My wife went to urgent care and it was declined for fraud. No explanation but legit. We got phone calls to our house, and when she called Chase, they said it was flagged as fraud. Not sure why only $75.

This was the weirdest--she put 2 phones, her cell, and our home, calling the toll free fraud line left on the voicemail, on hold 80 minutes. She hung both up, called back the normal toll free, went right to the fraud department, and handled in < 5 min.

 

[alarmguy]

I run into a similar thing but typically only at gas station pump card readers. They don't hold the card tight enough and after inserted and you let go, it moves maybe 1/16" and causes a chip read error. I never considered it being related to being curved from my wallet.... Just checked and it does have a very, very slight curve. I've just learned to keep pressure on the card to keep it in long enough.

I used to instruct customers in a bank when they had issues inserting their bank cards in the reader. Works almost every time and most all times it was men taking cards out of their wallets.

 

[SC Maintenance]

$350

If that is significantly larger than their usual transaction - that in combination with the multiple attempts might have been the flag.

I have had this issue - if I buy something large and unusual. BofA actually sends me a text and asks if it was legit later - which still locked out that transaction but doesn't freeze the card.

 

[Hall]

they said it was flagged as fraud. Not sure why only $75.

The amount has little relevance to it. Their systems probably have hundreds or thousands of variables they factor in.

 

[LDM]

Flagged due to security reasons. My guess for more specific reasons would be that the card company doesn't want to use the mag stripe anymore and locks out the card after the 3 tries with the EMV chip. Mag stripe is terrible for security and we should have stopped using it decades ago.

Some chip readers are picky and if the chip doesn't make good contact it gets a read error. Could be anything from a dirty EMV chip on the card, to bad contact with the chip, or the card reader itself needs cleaned.

 

[Hall]

Mag stripe is terrible for security and we should have stopped using it decades ago.

Credit union told me if the card reader is chip-enabled, you can't use the magnetic strip. I'm not sure if that's 100% true but I follow it.

 

[Rand]

Credit union told me if the card reader is chip-enabled, you can't use the magnetic strip. I'm not sure if that's 100% true but I follow it.

This is true unless it fails 3x in a row it will let you use mag stripe as backup. Its usually worn out/damaged card, but occasionally its the reader.

If a cashier tells you to do this, politely tell them no.


Card issuer or bank flags it as attempted fraud. I did the above once, on the advice of the store clerk, and this is exactly what happened. Called my credit union and they confirmed to me, "don't do that" and that yes, they automatically lock the card.

If it doesn't accept the chip(insert) it wont even be flagged as a transaction so doing it 3x isnt 3 transactions its 3 failed card reads.
this then lets the system accept the mag stripe as backup transaction.

 

[bdcardinal]

We don't have a Wal-Mart here so we only go maybe 3-4 times a year. My mom used an AMEX and it would never go through and I would just use my Chase Amazon VISA. Then the last time we went her Bonvoy Visa got declined but again my Chase Amazon Visa went through no issue. She called and they said it is a known issue with Wal-Mart for whatever reason.