There’s a good chance you’ve either experienced or seen someone experience a declined credit card. It’s nothing short of embarrassing, but the best thing to do is be prepared so that it practically never happens.

Here are situations that may cause your credit card to decline:

• It’s expired: This happens more often than not. A cardholder wasn’t paying attention and forgot to put the new credit card it their wallet. Meantime, they are still parading around with an old card that doesn’t work. Be sure to always check the date on your card every so many years and once a new one has been sent to you, place it in your wallet or purse immediately. Also, be sure to activate your new card.
• Someone deactivated your card. Do you share your card with another authorized user? If so, they may have very well deactivated it. Maybe they reported the card as stolen. Either way, communication is key to ensuring that everyone stays in the loop about what’s going on with the credit card.

In part 5, we’ll cover one other reason a credit card may be declined.