DECLINED - Is that a familiar message for you?

With my Banco Popular Visa Check Card, that is all I get lately. Let's be clear about a few things to get started:

• My account has cash in it at all times. These DECLINES are completely invalid.
• I am not sure of the official name Banco Popular uses for the card. I refer to it as the Visa Check Card. Basically this is a card that draws funds exclusively from your checking account, acting like a credit card. It is NOT an actual credit card. You MUST have funds in your account to use it.
• I am exercising my right to report my own experience. I do not know if others are affected by these issues. If you are, then I would like to hear about it. Please contact me or post a follow-up comment here.

From visiting this page of the Banco Popular website, it appears that the card I am referring to may be called the "International ATH Card". Not yet confirmed. I quote:

Use it in over 13 millions establishments around the world where the Visa Card is accepted and at over 500 automatic teller machines in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Several months ago my card started getting DECLINED twice in one month. Both times I had to call in to get them to re-activate it. They did not seem to really know what was wrong, but they did seem to be able to re-activate it. The only thing I can determine is that I had made a higher volume on online transactions than usual. FYI I frequently purchase online and have monthly subscriptions for web hosting, music, Vonage, etc.

On to the recent problems now. Just recently I vacationed in Florida. I had a yo-yo experience there. Some places would take my ATH card but not my Visa Check Card. Others would do the exact opposite without any apparent logic behind the DECLINE notices. Keep in mind, both cards pull funds from the *same* account. One is a debit card, and one is a debit card "pretending to be a VISA", i.e. a Visa Check Card.

Upon return to Puerto Rico, I start getting email notices from my online subscriptions telling me my card has been DECLINED.

So I have to get on the phone again and call, and repeat this whole process over again. So, I did that today. Result: Message tells me something to the effect of "Please leave your phone #. We will call you back within 3 hours", not verbatim. No, they did NOT call back. Apparently they revised their online banking systems and are having issues. As a result people cannot access their account information and are calling in record numbers to find out what is the problem. So... What is the problem Banco Popular?

I have been inside the central facilities for Banco Popular in San Juan. I toured the inner facilities, and I can tell you that this place looks like the NASA command center. This does NOT appear to be the kind of company that would be experiencing these types of critical mistakes that are not only inconvenient to customers, but also embarrassing, not to mention a bad report for Visa International, one of the world's most recognized brands.

I'll call again on Monday. From my experience it would be wishful thinking to believe this is the last time I will have to do this.

Please report your experiences with Banco Popular, good or bad.

The Insider