Payhawk card transactions may occasionally fail due to a range of reasons, including card configuration issues, insufficient funds, merchant-related problems, or policy restrictions.
By following this guide, you can quickly identify and resolve most card transaction issues in Payhawk, ensuring smooth and uninterrupted spending.
Stay informed with push notifications
If a card transaction has failed and you haven't received a notification from Payhawk, make sure you have activated your push notifications. For more information, see the article about push notifications for failed card transactions.
Enabling push notifications
To ensure you're notified of failed or successful transactions in real time:
Make sure your mobile device is connected to a stable network.
Open your phone's settings (e.g., Settings > Notifications on iPhone).
Enable notifications for the Payhawk app.
Once push notifications have been enabled, you’ll receive:
Real-time notifications for completed or failed transactions.
Weekly reminders for pending expense submissions (sent every Monday at 7 AM GMT).
Still not receiving push notifications?
If notifications are enabled but you didn’t receive one for a failed transaction, the issue may lie with the merchant’s system. In such cases, check the Activity tab of your card or contact the merchant directly.
Common reasons for failed transactions and how to fix them
Card payments can fail for several reasons. Here are the most common ones and the suggested actions for you to solve them.
Low card limit
If your card limit is lower than the transaction amount, the payment will fail. To solve this issue, request additional funds from a Payhawk administrator at your company or ask them to increase your card limit.
Insufficient funds
If the funds on your card balance are insufficient for the desired transaction, ask a Payhawk administrator at your company to make sure the card is linked to a currency account with enough funds.
Incorrect card details
Inputting incorrect CVV or expiration date can lead to failed transactions or temporary card blocks. To solve this issue, review your card details and retry with the correct information.
Spending policy for merchant restrictions
Transactions may be blocked due to restrictions set by a Payhawk administrator at your company, such as:
Merchant category restrictions
Blocked countries or regions
Defined spend limits
To check whether such restrictions have been imposed on your card, view your card limits, and see how a defined spend policy at your company can affect your cards.
This issue can be solved by a Payhawk administrator at your company by updating the spend policy and advanced card limits for your card.
Unsupported countries
Payhawk may restrict transactions in certain countries for regulatory reasons - for example, Zimbabwe. To solve this issue, use an alternative payment method or contact a Payhawk administrator at your company for guidance.
Merchant-specific issues
Some failures are due to:
Outdated or incompatible payment terminals.
Temporary technical issues at the merchant’s end.
To solve such issues:
Retry the transaction after some time.
Contact the merchant to verify their payment system.
Re-add your Payhawk card and try again.
Using the Payhawk app to diagnose issues
To check the reason for a failed transaction, view your card activity:
Open the Payhawk app or web portal.
Go to Cards and select the card.
Navigate to its Activity tab to view audit logs and failure reasons.
Visa 3D Secure (3DS) verification issues
Some merchants use Visa 3D Secure protection for verifying card transactions. If you do not receive a verification prompt, try the following troubleshooting steps:
Open the Payhawk app manually to check for the prompt.
Retry to execute the card transaction in case of delays or connectivity issues.
If the issue persists, contact Payhawk Support for further investigation.
High-value transactions and monitoring
For security reasons, high-value transactions may be temporarily blocked and reviewed by Payhawk’s Monitoring team.
You and the Payhawk administrators at your company will be contacted via email for confirmation.
Once confirmed, the transaction will be processed.
When to contact Payhawk Support
If you’ve tried the above steps and the issues persist - especially if the merchant can't assist you - contact the Payhawk Support team over chat or email at support@payhawk.com. The more information the Support team has, the easier they can troubleshoot the issue.
When you contact Payhawk Support, provide them with the following details to help the team investigate further.
First 6 digits and last 4 digits of the card, for example, 444444XXXXXX4444.
Day, time, and location of the attempted transaction.
Name of the merchant.
Amount.
Any error message that has been displayed.
If possible, send a print screen of the receipt or any error messages.
Information about whether you have contacted the merchant.
Summary: Failed card transaction issues and solutions
The following table summarizes the most common issues for failed card transactions and the suggested actions to fix them.
Issues with failed card transactions | Suggested action |
No notification received | Enable push notifications. |
Card declined | Check card limit, spend policy, or merchant restrictions. |
Incorrect card details | Verify CVV and expiry date in the Payhawk app. |
Merchant issues | Retry later or contact the merchant. |
High-value transaction blocked | Wait for confirmation from the Payhawk Monitoring team. |
Still unresolved | Contact Payhawk Support with detailed information. |