Afterpay declined customer

Why did Afterpay decline me? Top 5 reasons

If you have recently been declined by Afterpay then it is worth knowing the most common reasons why Afterpay doesn’t successfully work at checkout.

In most cases Afterpay will decline the purchase and show users the following message:

the afterpay risk management department has declined your payment

Afterpay decline message

It is the job of the risk management department to make sure anyone who uses Afterpay can afford to pay back the full value of the item you are purchasing. Your payment can be declined if it is your first time to use the service or even if you have used the service before. Here are the top 5 reasons you may have been declined.

1. You don’t have sufficient funds on your credit card

In order to pay with Afterpay you need to have enough funds on your credit card for the first payment amount. Afterpay will often check to see if your balance can cover the first payment.

Even if you have nothing to pay today, we recommend your credit card has at least the amount for the first payment. Because Afterpay offer 4 equal instalments you should double check that at least 25% of the total purchase value is available on your credit card balance.

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2. You already have a large amount that you currently owe

If you have previously used Afterpay you may find that you currently owe Afterpay a substantial amount. We recommend that if you do have a large outstanding balance, repay some of it to help lower your risk profile. While this is not a guarantee a lower balance will give Afterpay more confidence in processing future payments.

3. You are a new Afterpay customer

Afterpay are often more strict on the levels of financing for new customers. In many cases you can expect this to improve after the first 6 weeks of use. If you have recently signed up to use Afterpay service we recommend not trying multiple purchases in the first month and a half of use.

As time passes and you use Afterpay more you will find that your payments will be declined much less.

4. Your are buying an expensive item

 If the value of the item is higher than average you may find that Afterpay are more likely to decline the transaction, especially if you are a new customer purchasing a high value item.

We recommend building your purchase history with Afterpay before purchasing items over $100. Frequent small purchases will help you build your relationship with Afterpay and show that you can make payments on time and are unlikely to miss a payment.

5. You have a number of ‘open’ orders

If you are a frequent user of Afterpay you can easily find yourself with multiple open orders. For each open order you have with Afterpay the more credit you owe them. It is important that for your own financial well being you are aware of the total amount of borrowing you have outstanding Afterpay.

Afterpay may choose to decline an order if you already have multiple outstanding payments to make. We recommend either waiting to fully repay orders or pay off the balance on open orders before using Afterpay. It is sensible to only have between 1-3 open orders with Afterpay at anyone time. This helps you stay in control of your outgoings.

So there you have it our top 5 recommendations to help you get approved for an Afterpay payment. With these steps we hope you avoid getting declined for Afterpay.

Afterpay is one of the United States larger alternative payment provider. The service is best know for it’s buy now, pay later financing which allows shoppers to spread the cost of their purchases over a number of months.

There are a number of alternatives in the USA such as Klarna and Affirm. If you are using these services for the first time make sure you do your research and are fully aware of the interest rates and fees that are applicable.

If you are still having problems we recommend you visit the official Afterpay help centre. Here you will also find ways to contact the company and report an issue with payment.

If you find that your Afterpay account has been blocked then we recommend you read our guide on what to do if your Afterpay account is frozen.

23 thoughts on “Why did Afterpay decline me? Top 5 reasons”

    1. Same thing happened to me. Never used Afterpay before and the item was $30. I have way more than that in my account…

    2. Same. I never have any issues with klarna though. Ive used that a few times now on some bigger purchases and always payed off two weeks early. I have a high purchase power with them and they are super user friendly.

      1. Klarna is a better option. Friendly staff and a phone number to actually call them. I have paid off over 100 afterpay orders in the past 3 years and most of my payments are paid at least a week in advance. They turned my down for a $50 gift card today and they will not say why, just we consider a number of factors. Once I pay them off I am closing my account.

  1. I don’t get them. I was declined for a purchase under $100. I’m not new with them, never defaulted, never late, and I have a zero balance. My profile says I have $1200 available to spend. Who knows what their deal is, but I’m about done.

    1. Same thing happened to me. I paid them off completely and my account is showing $1700 to spend, but each time I try to use the service I’m declined .

    2. Same with me. I tried to purchase $83 and have no open balances and all past purchases were paid on time or early and I keep getting declined

      1. Welp. Glad im not the only one this is happening to. Been a month member for 2 years ir more now, have 2k limit, plenty in bank account, but keep declining. I do owe 500, but i have spent WAAAYYYY more than that. Wont approve orders over 400$, but dont want you to have more than 3 orders? Makes ZERO sense.

  2. Same issue as everyone else when I reached out they gave me the typical list of reason why I could have been decided when I started I could but the item 20x over with the money on card never owed etc so these didn’t seems to apply they simple closed my chat and never responded again.

  3. Same thing happened to me I paid off my first purchase . Then I tried to purchase more and I was declined having no open purchases and paying off on time

  4. I got a notice for my payment due for yesterday. Fine. The funds were there. No issue. Then yesterday morning, I woke up to my payment declining. I tried many times manually. Making sure my funds weren’t held by making a payment to my credit card, more than the AfterPay payment. Tried again with a manual payment for AfterPay, still declined. Nothing changed. I don’t get it.

  5. I had $600 spending limit and just had one item and I was declined. More than plenty of funds in my account to purchase. They have no reason at all to decline me. I’m closing my account and letting all friends and family and others knows it’s a waste of time. Getting the word out. And sadly, the purchase was a small one.

  6. I owe zero. Paid off my first purchase with them no problem but just declined for a $56.00 purchase. Okay, I’ll just delete the app and forget them!

  7. Afterpay needs to get it together. Their customer service is the worst. Their all-digital contact policy is a major problem. I have a 1700 limit. I need to make a large purchase — a refurbished iPad on Amazon — because I’m a freelance video producer and I need it for shooting and editing when I travel. I have used Afterpay for years now. I’ve never been declined until I attempted this purchase. Some idiot programmer needs to change the algorithm that fires off a decline based on the wrong parameters. It’s utterly ridiculous!!

  8. Yep happened to me today. $1500 limit, $0 owing, never missed a payment. Have bought things for over $500 previously with no issue. Yet today I was stuck at a shop trying to buy something and got declined. No phone number to call. They don’t respond to their own msging system. I’ll be closing my account. Complete waste of time.

  9. These comments were so helpful. I have a $2800 limit and I owe $260.00. Got declined for a $28.00 sale at Priceline, so I thought maybe it was them. Then got declined $126.00 @ sunglass hut. So embarrassing. Might look into other options also. I have never changed a payment date and never been late on a payment.

    1. Same thing happened to me. I’ve made several purchases with affirm and after pay. Never missed a payment and have always paid off early. I have a large open to buy, but when I tried it was declined. Ridiculous, although I guess it’s better I’m not alone. Closing after pay now and I’m going to finish paying affirm then cancelling it as well. Very frustrated

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