 Money News at 10 and 40 past the hour brought to you by PenFed. Great rates for everyone. Here's Mark Hamrick. Top reasons credit card purchases are declined. I'm Mark Hamrick with the Bankrate.com Personal Finance Minute. Decline for a credit card? I remember when it happened to me 30 plus years ago. I was running some ice skates and behind on my payments. I still remember how embarrassing it was.