All of my credit cards were rejected when I attempted to book flights

[Stuart]

I have been trying to book flights to HK.
I have 3 credit cards, 2 Japan based, and one UK based.
All of them have been refused.
I have never previously had this kind of issue. I rarely use cards and have no debts.
Any ideas what to do?
A card I have based in Jersey said the card was checked their end and they were unable to locate any transactions for flights.
They advise contacting the merchant and paying for the tickets in a different way. What? ....

[RetireJapan]

Are you booking directly with the airline?

[Stuart]

Yes, I am booking with the airline directly.

[Moneymatters]

Yes, I am booking with the airline directly.

Exact same has happened to me(with two different domestic cards).
If the cards are SMBC expect a phone call tomorrow saying sorry and to try again and it will be fine or some such.
I’m guessing I had the call the next day as I attempted the highly suspicious transaction outside Japan office hours.

Airline was Etihad or Qatar. I can’t recall which..
oh. then got rejected a different time with Singapore airline but I was physically outside Japan at the time..

[Stuart]

Thank you for the info. For the domestic cards, all transactions were attempted late evening.
Perhaps that explains things.

[Tony]

Thank you for the info. For the domestic cards, all transactions were attempted late evening.
Perhaps that explains things.

I don't think it really matters what time of the day it is, it's just they put a lock on the cards for large transactions. Same happened to me in November, had to call rakuten and tell them I was making the transaction, and they took the lock off the account for me. It's bloody annoying, and they don't seem to take past transactions into account when locking the cards.

[Deep Blue]

Fraud detection at Japanese credit card issuers is remarkably poor in my experience. For my SMBC card they do at least send a text message saying they have blocked a transaction and giving me the option to approve it.. then I have to re-do the transaction with the merchant and it goes through.

Seems completely random which transactions incur this type of block though.

[Moneymatters]

Thank you for the info. For the domestic cards, all transactions were attempted late evening.
Perhaps that explains things.

I don't think it really matters what time of the day it is, it's just they put a lock on the cards for large transactions. Same happened to me in November, had to call rakuten and tell them I was making the transaction, and they took the lock off the account for me. It's bloody annoying, and they don't seem to take past transactions into account when locking the cards.

My point, or rather assumption, was whilst the blocking of a transaction can be automated the act of unblocking and phoning a customer required a living person hence when you may not receive the phone call the same day.
So if you tried at 9am and got blocked maybe you could get that call the same day.

What surprised me was they didn’t even ask. “Did you attempt to use your card yesterday?”’the just presumed it was me and jumped in with. “Sorry about that we’d removed the restriction if you try again it will work.”

It seemed like something the have to do a lot.. So. What exactly was their point in blocking it. But if I spent all my free time questioning in the idiosyncrasies of the financial and financial adjacent institutions in Japan I’d have 369 rambling posts on a forum somewhere.*

Correction. 370..

One card says from March they’ll email me to verify on occasion so maybe they can use that as an opportunity to stop blocking normal transactions.

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

Fraud detection at Japanese credit card issuers is remarkably poor in my experience. For my SMBC card they do at least send a text message saying they have blocked a transaction and giving me the option to approve it.. then I have to re-do the transaction with the merchant and it goes through.

Seems completely random which transactions incur this type of block though.

Just Received this from SMBC the other day.

In response to the increasing number of victims of fraudulent use, from mid-March 2024, we will gradually change the authentication method (3-D Secure) for online shopping to a safer, more secure, and more convenient method.

増加する不正利用被害に対し、2024年3月中旬より順次、ネットショッピングご利用時の認証（3-Dセキュア）をより安心安全で便利な方法に変更いたします。

[Stuart]

I tried with the same cards today at lunchtime and they went through without any problems.
All in all, this took quite a long time. I thought I had been completely blocked FOREVER.

There was no contact from the domestic banks associated with the cards.

Thank you all for your comments. Power to RETIRE JAPAN and THE MEMBERS.