Payment problems
Declined cards, charges you did not expect, and payments that failed halfway.
Why was my card declined?
When a card is declined, the decision is made by your bank and not by us. We are told only that it failed, usually without a reason, which is why we cannot tell you exactly what went wrong. These are the causes, roughly in order of how often they turn out to be the answer. Your bank blocked a foreign or online merchant Common with cards that are normally used in person, and with travel purchases in particular. Your bank's app often shows the blocked attempt and lets you approve it in one tap. The verification step did not complete Many cards require an extra approval in your banking app. If you missed it or it timed out, the payment fails even though the card is fine. See "The bank verification step failed". Prepaid or gift cards Many prepaid cards do not allow online or recurring merchants at all. Details that do not match An expired card, a mistyped number, or a billing address that does not match what your bank has on file. Not enough available balance Including the case where the money is there but a pending transaction is holding part of it. What to try 1. Check your banking app for a blocked payment to approve. 2. Try the same card again once, in case the failure was transient. 3. Try a different card. 4. Pay from your wallet or with crypto instead, neither of which involves your bank. See "What the SimFuse wallet is, and paying with it" and "How paying with crypto works". If it still fails, contact us with the time of the attempt and the last four digits of the card. We can see our side of the attempt and tell you what the processor reported.
The bank verification step failed
Most cards now need a second approval from your bank before a payment goes through. You will see a screen from your bank, or get a prompt in your banking app. If that step does not finish, the payment is declined even though there is nothing wrong with the card. The approval never arrived Open your banking app and look for a pending approval. Push notifications for these are unreliable, especially on a weak connection, so the request is often waiting in the app. It timed out These requests usually expire after a few minutes. Start the payment again and keep your banking app open and ready. The screen loops or goes blank Usually a browser problem rather than a bank problem: 1. Turn off any pop-up blocker for the checkout page. 2. Do not use a private or incognito window, which can block the cookies the step needs. 3. Try a different browser, or use the SimFuse app instead. 4. Turn off your VPN for the payment. A bank seeing a country that does not match your account is a common cause. It is still failing Contact your bank. They can see the failed verification and often clear it while you are on the phone. If you need the plan immediately, pay from your wallet or with crypto instead, since neither involves this step.
The payment failed but I was charged
This is almost always an authorization hold rather than a real charge, and no money has actually left your account. What is happening When you pay, your bank first sets aside the amount and tells us it is available. That is an authorization. We only capture it if the order succeeds. If the order fails, we never capture, but the hold can still be visible in your banking app for a while. You can usually tell them apart: a hold shows as pending or reserved, while a real charge is settled. How long it takes to disappear Your bank releases the hold on its own. How long that takes is entirely up to them and can be several days. We cannot speed it up, because there is nothing on our side to reverse: a hold that was never captured is not a payment we can refund. What to do 1. Check whether you actually received the eSIM. If you did, the payment succeeded and the charge is correct. 2. Check whether the line on your statement is pending or settled. 3. Do not order again while you are unsure, because that can create a second hold. If it settled and you got nothing That is a real charge without an order, and we will refund it. Contact us with the date, the amount, and the last four digits of the card. See also "I paid but no eSIM arrived".
There are two charges on my statement
Two lines on a statement usually means one payment and one hold, not two payments. Check this first Look at whether each line is pending or settled, and compare against your orders in the app. - One settled charge, one pending line, one order. The pending line is a failed attempt that was held and will fall away on its own. See "The payment failed but I was charged". - Two settled charges, one order. Contact us. We will refund one. - Two settled charges, two orders. Both went through. This happens when a payment appears to fail and is tried again. If you only need one plan, we will refund the other. It helps if the eSIM from the one you do not want has not been installed. Amounts that do not match exactly If the two amounts differ slightly and you paid in a currency other than your own, the difference is your bank's conversion rather than a second purchase. See "I was charged in a different currency than I expected". What to send us The date and amount of each line, whether each is pending or settled, and the last four digits of the card. That is enough for us to match them to orders and refund the right one.
My bank added a foreign transaction fee
If your statement shows a small extra amount next to your order, it is usually your bank's fee rather than part of the price you agreed with us. Why it happens Many banks charge a percentage when a payment is processed in a currency other than your account's, or when the merchant is outside your country. The fee is set by your bank and goes to your bank. We never see it and cannot refund it. How to avoid it 1. Set your currency in your account settings to the currency your card is billed in. 2. Check the total shown at checkout before paying. That figure is what we charge. 3. If your bank charges for any foreign merchant regardless of currency, paying from your SimFuse wallet or with crypto avoids the card network entirely. When the difference is larger than a fee If the amount is meaningfully different rather than a small percentage, it may not be a fee at all. See "I was charged in a different currency than I expected", or contact us with the amount you expected and the amount you were charged.
I was charged in a different currency than I expected
Prices are shown and charged in the currency set on your account. If that is not your card's currency, your bank converts the amount and may add a fee, so the figure on your statement will not match the one at checkout exactly. Set your currency Change it in your account settings before you order. The whole catalog re-prices, and the total at checkout is what we charge. Why the numbers still differ slightly - Your bank's exchange rate. Banks use their own rate, not ours, and it moves. - A foreign transaction fee. See "My bank added a foreign transaction fee". - The date. Your bank converts when the payment settles, which can be a day or two after you ordered. Prices that changed between visits Our prices in your currency are derived from a base price, so a rate move can shift them slightly between one visit and the next. The price shown when you pay is the price you pay. If the difference is large Contact us with the checkout total, the amount charged, and your card's currency, and we will check the order.
Apple Pay or Google Pay did not go through
These pay with a card stored on your device, so a failure is usually the card underneath or the device setup rather than us. Check the card behind it Open your device wallet and confirm the card is not expired and is set up for online purchases. Try the same card as a normal card payment at checkout. If that works, the problem is the device wallet. Common causes 1. No card set as default for payments in your device wallet. 2. The billing address on the stored card does not match what your bank holds. 3. A browser that is not supported. Apple Pay needs Safari on Apple devices. In another browser the button may appear and then fail. 4. A VPN placing you in a country your card does not expect. What to try 1. Retry once, since these failures are often transient. 2. Pay with the card directly instead of through the device wallet. 3. Pay from your SimFuse wallet or with crypto. See "What the SimFuse wallet is, and paying with it" and "How paying with crypto works". If the button does not appear at all, your device or browser does not support it for this checkout, and a card payment is the way through.
My payment keeps failing: what to try next
Work down this list. Each step removes a different part of the chain, so by the end you will know where the problem sits. 1. Approve it in your banking app. Look for a pending approval or a blocked payment. This is the single most common fix. 2. Retry once. Transient failures are real, but do not retry repeatedly: each attempt can leave a hold on your balance. 3. Turn off your VPN for the payment. 4. Try a different browser, or the SimFuse app. This rules out pop-up blockers and cookie settings breaking the verification step. 5. Try a different card, ideally from a different bank. 6. Pay from your SimFuse wallet. No bank is involved, so nothing can be declined. 7. Pay with crypto. Also avoids the card network completely. Still stuck Contact us with the time of your last attempt, the last four digits of the card, and any error text you saw. We can see the processor's response for that attempt, which usually identifies the cause immediately. If you are travelling tomorrow Say so when you contact us. It changes what we suggest, and we would rather get you connected than debug a card.