We know it's stressful when a Payroll by Card payment doesn't go through, especially with payday coming up. The good news is that most declines and failures come down to one of a few common causes, and each one has a straightforward fix.
This guide covers the following scenarios and how to resolve each one:
Declined during review
Every Payroll by Card payment goes through a manual review before your funding card is charged. The most common reason for a decline during this review is an amount mismatch: the amount you enter must exactly match the total on your uploaded payroll document.
The payment can also be declined if your payroll document can't be confirmed, or if another issue is flagged. Either way, you'll be notified with the reason.
You can also find this payment by its status on your Pay dashboard or Payroll by Card dashboard. It will be labeled as Failed and/or Declined.
1- Check your email for a notification from our team and review the reason for the decline.
- If the amount doesn't match your document: Compare the amount you entered in Melio against the total shown on your payroll document, and note which one needs to be corrected.
- If your payroll document couldn't be confirmed: Confirm your document is complete, current, and clearly matches your business. See this guide for more information on the full requirements.
2- Schedule a new Payroll by Card payment with the corrected information. For step-by-step instructions, check out this guide.
Payroll by Card payments can't be edited once submitted. Scheduling a new transaction is the quickest way to make sure your Payroll bank account is funded properly.
Card decline
If your funding card is declined after your payment has already been approved, you'll get an email notification confirming this status update. You can either retry with the same card once the issue is resolved, or use a different eligible card.
1- Locate the failed payment using one of the following methods:
- From your email: Open the email from Melio letting you know your payment failed, then select Resolve payment. This takes you directly to the Payment and bill details screen. If you don't see the email, check your spam or junk folder.
- From your Melio account: Log in to your Melio account. From the Pay dashboard, select the Payments tab. Select Resolve next to the failed payment you want to fix.
2- Review the reason the transaction failed.
3- Select Resolve and reschedule.
4- Select how you'd like to pay. You'll see a reminder to resolve the issue with your original funding card before paying with it again, or you can choose a different eligible Visa or Mastercard instead.
Amex is not available to be used as a funding card for Payroll by Card transactions.
5- Select Continue.
6- On the Review & confirm page, check the payment details, then select Confirm and schedule payment to finish.
Failed delivery
If your funding card was charged, but the payment couldn't be delivered to your Payroll bank account, you'll get an email notification explaining what happened. From there, you can retry the payment with corrected delivery details.
1- Locate the failed payment using one of the following methods:
- From your email: Open the email you received about the failed payment and select Resolve payment.
- From your Melio account: Log in to your Melio account. From the Pay dashboard, select the Payments tab, then select Resolve next to the failed payment you want to fix.
2- Now on the Payment and bill details screen, review the reason the delivery failed.
3- Select Retry payment. This won't result in your card being charged again.
4- Enter your Payroll bank account's correct details, then select Continue.
Make sure you're entering the correct account type for your Payroll bank account. ACH bank transfer and Wire transfer details are formatted differently.
5- Review the popup confirming these details will be saved for future payments only, then select Confirm.
6- Review the payment details and select Confirm and retry payment.
That's it! You now know the three most common reasons a Payroll by Card payment can be declined or failed, and the steps to take for each one.