If your Franklin card is declined, there is always a specific reason. Start with the most common causes below — they account for the vast majority of declines.
Most common decline reasons
1. Insufficient balance
What happens: The transaction amount exceeds your current Franklin account balance. Franklin cards are prepaid — no balance, no charge.
What to do: Top up your account and retry. If you have automated top-ups set up, check whether the latest top-up has processed — weekend and holiday transfers may be delayed by 1–2 business days. See Top-ups: Complete guide.
2. Wrong OTP or passcode
What happens: Online transactions require two verifications: a one-time password (OTP) sent to your registered email, and a 6-digit card passcode. If either is entered incorrectly or the OTP expires before you submit it, the transaction fails.
What to do:
- Check your email inbox for the OTP — it expires quickly, so enter it right away
- If it has expired, restart the checkout to receive a new one
- Find or change your card passcode under Payment Cards → View details
- Make sure the email on your Franklin account is one you can access immediately during checkout
3. Merchant-specific issue
What happens: Some merchants and platforms run their own card checks on top of the standard payment flow. This is common with ad platforms (Google Ads, Meta, TikTok), subscription software (ChatGPT, Adobe, Shopify, Klaviyo), and other recurring services. A decline can happen for various reasons - even if your Franklin card and balance are fine.
What to do:
- Log in to the merchant or platform and verify the card number, expiry, and CVV are current
- Check for any outstanding charges, unpaid invoices, or account flags on the merchant side
- Contact the merchant and ask them to investigate
- In case it's a technical error on their side, wait a couple of hours or a day and try again
- If the card details are correct and it still declines, contact Franklin support with the merchant name and error message
4. Wrong card details entered
What happens: An incorrect card number, expiry date, or CVV causes the transaction to be rejected by the merchant.
What to do: Go to Payment Cards → View details to retrieve the exact card information and re-enter it. Note that some transactions also require the 6-digit passcode — this is separate from the CVV.
Less common reasons
Card is frozen or blocked
A frozen card declines all transactions. Go to Payment Cards, click the three dots next to the card, and set it to Active. If the card is blocked (permanent), issue a new one under Payment Cards → Issue card and update the details on any saved platforms.
Spend limit reached
Franklin's spend limits are set high by design — but for businesses with significant ad spend, it is possible to reach them:
- Per transaction: €100,000
- Daily: €100,000 across max 200 transactions
- Monthly: €1,000,000 across max 2,000 transactions
- Max account balance: €2,000,000
If you are hitting a limit, contact Franklin support — we can discuss options based on your usage.
Still not working?
If you have worked through the list above and the card is still being declined, contact us at support@hifranklin.com with:
- Which card was declined (last 4 digits)
- The merchant name and approximate transaction amount
- The date and time of the decline