Card transactions may be blocked for various reasons, including fraud risk, compliance policies, insufficient funds, card configuration issues, or restrictions on specific merchants.
How do I identify why a transaction was blocked?
Check the reason for the failed transaction by viewing your card activity.
For example, in the Payhawk Mobile App:
Go to Cards > Transactions.
Tap the desired transaction and view the transaction details.
The transaction may have failed due to:
Card configuration issues
Insufficient funds
Merchant issues
Policy restrictions (country or merchant restrictions)
Fraud or network alerts
Late expense submissions
Enable push notifications to receive real-time alerts about failed transactions.
How do I resolve blocked transactions?
Depending on the reason for the blocked card transactions, you can resolve the issue in the following ways:
For cards that were blocked due to late expense submissions, you need to submit the overdue expenses to reactivate the card.
For cards that were blocked due to fraud or network alerts, you need to contact Payhawk Support for assistance.
For merchant or country restrictions, contact a Payhawk Administrator at your company to review and update spend policies. Payhawk Administrators can unblock or adjust policies by removing restrictions or blacklisting merchants.
For subscription-related merchant blocks, cancel subscriptions directly with the merchant and consider blacklisting the merchant or closing or replacing the card to prevent future charges.
For legitimate transactions:
If your card was auto-blocked due to a specific transaction, confirm with the cardholder or support team whether the transaction is legitimate.
If confirmed, the card can be unblocked and reactivated for unrestricted merchants.
What about permanently restricted merchants?
Transactions to merchants categorized under high-risk codes, such as MCC 6051, are permanently blocked due to fraud risk or compliance policies and cannot be unblocked or whitelisted. Use an alternative payment method for these merchants.
Payments may still succeed if processed by an intermediary platform, such as a booking service. To prevent such payments, block the intermediary's merchant or avoid using that platform for restricted merchants.
How can I prevent future blocks?
To prevent future blocking of transactions, you can use any of the following approaches:
Use alternative payment methods for restricted merchants to avoid repeated blocks.
Avoid retrying blocked transactions, as repeated attempts may trigger additional security measures.
Follow your organization's established processes to confirm legitimate transactions.
Use the Payments AI Agent for guidance on declined transactions and suggested fixes.
What should I do if issues persist?
If issues persist and merchant assistance is unavailable, contact Payhawk Support via the chat or at support@payhawk.com and provide them with the transaction details.