If you have an outstanding balance on your IO Card account, Mercury may block an outgoing transaction from your Mercury business deposit account if sending it would leave you without enough funds in your deposit account to cover what you currently owe on IO. This is a normal part of how your IO card account and your Mercury business deposit account work together.
A simplified way to think about it:
A payment from your Mercury business deposit account may be blocked if: (deposit balance - payment amount) < outstanding IO balance
Example
- You have $100 in your Mercury business deposit account.
- You owe $80 on your IO balance.
- You try to send a $30 outbound payment from your Mercury business deposit account.
- After the payment, you'd have $70 in deposits, less than the $80 you owe on IO.
- Because this would leave you short of what's needed to cover your IO balance, the payment may be blocked.
What kinds of transactions this can apply to
This action can apply to most types of outbound money movement from your Mercury business deposit account, including:
- ACH debits and pulls
- Send-money payments
- Checks
- Wires
- Debit card transactions
- ATM withdrawals
Why Mercury blocks these payments
This process helps us make sure you keep enough deposits in Mercury to repay your outstanding IO balance before additional funds leave your Mercury business deposit account. It's a preventative measure, not a penalty.
What you can do
If a payment is blocked for this reason, you generally have a few options:
- Pay down your outstanding IO balance so your deposits are enough to cover it.
- Reduce the amount of the outbound payment.
- Add funds to your Mercury business deposit account.
Once there are enough funds in your Mercury business deposit account to cover your IO balance after the payment, you can re-try the transaction.
FAQs
Is this the same as an insufficient-funds decline?
No. You can have enough cash in your Mercury business deposit account to cover a payment on its own and still have that payment blocked, if paying it would leave you without enough deposits to also cover your outstanding IO balance. This process looks at your deposits and your IO balance together, not just your deposit balance alone.
Does this only apply to large payments?
No. It can apply to any outbound payment from your Mercury business deposit account, regardless of size, if sending it would create a shortfall between your remaining deposit balance and what you owe on IO.
Do I get any advance notice that my transaction may be blocked?
Yes. If you create an outgoing transaction in the Send Money flow that would cause your deposit account balance to drop below your IO balance, you will receive a notification in the user interface that the payment would cause your total available deposit balance to fall below the amount required to pay off your current IO card balance and advising that you leave at least the amount required to pay off your current IO balance in your account.
Do I get notified after my payment is blocked?
Yes. If your payment is blocked, you will receive an email notification that Mercury rejected your transaction because completing it would have caused your deposit account balance to drop below your IO balance.
What happens if my payment is blocked?
The payment will generally be returned or rejected. In some cases, it may be placed into a review queue as part of Mercury's decision process. If you have questions about a specific blocked payment, reach out to our support team.
Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. The IO Card is issued by Patriot Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated.