FAQ - Credit Card Problems

You may have entered something incorrectly.

• Incorrect ZIP/Postal Code. Your ZIP/Postal code doesn't match what your credit card company has on file. If it works somewhere else, that's because they're not checking your ZIP code. Call the number on the back of your card. They'll be able to tell you why your payment isn't going through.
• Incorrect expiration date or CVV code. Sometimes it can be hard to read the expiration date or verification code on your card. Remember, AMEX is a 4 digit code while the other cards are a 3 digit code.

Your payment could also be failing for one of these reasons:

• Allowed Transaction Types. Some company credit cards restrict the types of allowed transactions; call your credit card company for resolution.
• Over Limit or Insufficient Funds. Please call your credit card company for resolution.

This is part of our Address Verification (AVS). To validate your ZIP/Postal code, our processor puts a pending charge on your credit card.

• If the ZIP/Postal code you entered matches your billing address - the charge is completed, and our system takes your payment.
• If the ZIP/Postal code doesn’t match - the charge is reversed and your card credited the held amount. You can try again and you won’t be double-charged.

Our payment processor requires you to enter the Postal Code that matches what your bank has on file.

• To double-check what Postal Code your bank has on file, call your credit card company.
• If you don't have a Postal Code, call your bank and ask what you should use instead.
• If your bank doesn't support address verification (AVS) and you tried earlier, give it another go. Your transaction should go through as of March 10th, 2023.

Please contact us at echohelp@pels.texas.gov only after reviewing the FAQs above. Barring a system-wide issue, your payment is failing due to one of the reasons above.