Okuzeka
Finance & Banking vocabulary · Payments & Cards

Decline

Meaning in finance & banking, with examples

/dɪˈklaɪn/verbCore term

In finance & banking, decline means: To refuse a card payment, transaction or application. When a card is declined, the payment does not go through.

In Turkish: reddetmek, onaylamamak

How it is used

Very common in the passive: 'my card was declined', 'the transaction was declined'. Typical reasons are insufficient funds, a wrong PIN, an expired card or a fraud check. Banks also decline loan applications. As a noun, 'decline' also means a fall: a decline in profits.

Example sentences

  1. My card was declined at the supermarket, but I have money in my account.

  2. We declined the application because the applicant's income could not be verified.

Common collocations

  • card declined
  • declined transaction
  • decline an application
  • decline a payment
  • authorizationThe card issuer's approval of a card transaction at the moment it is made, after checking the card, the available limit and signs of fraud.
  • available balanceThe amount of money in an account that you can actually spend or withdraw right now, after pending payments and holds are taken into account.
  • credit cardA plastic or digital card that lets you buy now and pay the bank later. You can spend up to a limit and pay interest if you do not repay the full amount on time.
  • fraudDeceiving someone to get money or another advantage illegally, such as using stolen card details or opening an account with a fake identity.
  • credit limitThe maximum amount a bank allows a customer to borrow on a credit card or a credit line.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Payments & Cards

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not financial advice.