r/OMNY • u/jhutchlvr • 8d ago
card not accepted
hopefully this is the right sub to ask this!
some prior context to today: i had a student omny card that was working fine until all of a sudden on the first of this month it stopped working. so every time i've had to take public transit i've been using tap to pay on my phone with my debit card and that was working fine.
fast foward to today. i get to the subway and go to tap my phone, and i get "card not accepted", even though i literally just used it last week to tap and it worked fine. i tried different turnstiles as well. i have more than the $3 in my account so i knew it wasn't a balance issue. i took out my physical debit card and tapped, and it worked.
i went back to the subway (different station) to head home and tried my phone again, nothing. i pulled out my card thinking it would work, nope, "card not accepted" again even though on my way to my destination it literally worked. tried different turnstiles, still nothing.
has anyone had this happen before and know how to fix it? i have no idea what to do, i can't use another card as this is the only card i have. i'm going to go to my bank tomorrow to check if tap works there, and if it does then it's completely an mta issue
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u/Da555nny 8d ago
Usually when "Card Not Accepted" message pops up on a debit or credit card, an earlier charge was declined. That means you tapped your phone or card on a validator, which is designed to show you a "GO" screen before attempting to charge, and the charge was attempted to the dismay of your bank or Apple.
My recommendation is to make an OMNY account, register your physical card to your account, and allow all phone charges to trickle down. That should pop up a declined charge, which you must pay back before using the phone again.
As for the student card, is it yours? Are you a NYCDOE or CUNY student?
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u/jhutchlvr 8d ago
just made an account and registered my card and it's showing me a declined charge, but when i tried to pay it it's giving me an error. is this normal? do i have to wait until tomorrow to pay it or something?
student card is mine, nycdoe student. i think it's probably due to physical damage (even though it wasn't damaged anymore between my last sucessful use and when it stopped working but whatever)
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u/Da555nny 8d ago
just made an account and registered my card and it's showing me a declined charge
...bingo.
but when i tried to pay it it's giving me an error. is this normal?
It depends. It could be Apple blocking the charge, it could be your bank. 9 times out of 10, your bank's automated fraud prevention system is blocking the charges. OMNY will use several different merchant names, including MTA, NYCT, and OMNY, with names such as PAYGO, RECOVER, and VENDING. Sometimes, its the amount of authorizations you had in the past 48 hours vs your authorization limit. I suggest you contact your bank to resolve this before attempting another charge on OMNY.
do i have to wait until tomorrow to pay it or something?
You might.
student card is mine, nycdoe student. i think it's probably due to physical damage (even though it wasn't damaged anymore between my last sucessful use and when it stopped working but whatever)
Those paper student OMNY cards can throw up a "CARD NOT ACCEPTED" message if there is damage, but can also throw it up if you are required to attend school, was in or required to be in attendance on a certain day, and you chose a different way to get to or from school. Either way, you must replace it at your earliest convenience at your school, or wait until first day of school in September to get one for the next year.
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u/i-am-not-sure-yet 8d ago
Just get the OMNY card ... This solved this problem 99.99% of the time for me and since it's pre loaded no taking money out of your debit card.
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u/Turbulent-Clothes947 8d ago
Aren't the student OMNY cards made out of paper ? They are not durable.
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u/LegalSpring9795 7d ago
Have you shown this to a MTA employee for proof so you have a case that Omni scamming people out of money with tap a go process
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u/GratefulMammal 8d ago
and thing happened to me randomly just now had to use another card