Why Can’t I add my Debit Card on Sycamore?

This is a guide to why you may have been unable to add your debit card

If you've ever tried entering your debit card information on the Sycamore App, and you received an error message stating: ‘Unable to process this transaction’ or ‘Transaction denied by bank or financial institution,’ then this article is for you.

This article will explain why you encountered this and how to proceed.

To carry out transactions that require payment through a debit card, Sycamore requires you to add a valid debit card.

An initial charge of N100 is required to add a debit card which is later refunded to your Sycamore Wallet within 24 hours.

Here are two reasons why your card is charged before it is saved to your profile:

1. Local regulations require that you authenticate your debit card through a 2-Factor Authentication before the card is charged.
    (2 -factor authentication being your debit card PIN and OTP sent to your phone number).

2. It allows Sycamore to ensure that the card is valid and can be charged for subsequent transactions.

Here are some common Card Payment Errors and how you can resolve them:

1. Unable to conclude transaction: This error means there was a brief downtime by your bank or card processor as at when the transaction was attempted.
   
   Resolution: You need to retry the transaction at a later time or escalate to the Sycamore support team if the error persists.
   
   

2. Transaction denied by bank or financial institution: This means that the transaction was declined by your bank for reasons best known to them. This usually happens when your debit card has not been activated for online(or web) payments.
   
   Resolution: You can retry the transaction at a later time. If the error persists, however, you will need to escalate to your bank for further assistance.
   
   

3. Unable to process transaction: This means that you either used multiple cards to attempt the transaction in a short period of time, or your transaction attempts have failed multiple times in a short period of time and your card has been hot listed by the fraud prevention system. This could also happen if you repeatedly enter your card information wrongly multiple times.
   
   Resolution: The hotlist typically clears after 24 hours so you can retry the transaction 24 hours after the last transaction attempt.
   
   

4. Transaction Not Completed: The means that the transaction could not be completed due to one of various reasons. It could be due to a downtime by your bank, card processor or due to incorrect card information.
   
   Resolution: You need to retry the transaction at a later time or escalate to the Sycamore support team if the error persists.

5. Unknown Error: This means that your debit card is not registered on your bank's token platform and hence your bank is unable to send an OTP to your registered phone number for you to authorize this transaction. An OTP is required to protect your debit card from being used on any platform without your authorization.
   
   Resolution: You need to reach out to your bank to register your debit card on their token platform to enable your card for 3D secure authentication

6. Oops! the transaction has exceeded the time to pay: This simply means that you have simply stayed on that page for more than 30 minutes and the page is no longer valid
   
   Resolution: You simply need to close the page(either by using your device's back button or restarting the app) and try adding your card again.

7. Token not Generated. Customer not registered on Token Platform: This means that your debit card has not been activated by your bank for online transactions and consequently, a token or OTP cannot be sent to you to complete the transaction.
   
   Resolution: You need to reach out to your bank to register your debit card or account on their token platform to enable your card for 3D secure authentication.

If none of these errors stated above apply to you or your issue persists after trying out the advised resolution, please reach out to us at 0201-700-3497 or send us a message via live chat on the website or the mobile app. You may also send an email to complaints@sycamore.ng.