Credit card declined in Saudi Arabia

I ran into this in Khobar a few weeks ago and it turned out the ATM I was using didn’t support international card withdrawals, even though it took my card in. It was an isolated machine at a petrol station. I tried again at a SABB Bank ATM inside a mall, and it worked perfectly with the same card. If your card keeps failing, try a different bank’s ATM, preferably one of the larger banks like SNB, Al Rajhi, or Samba. Also, check if your card is being blocked for dynamic currency conversion - say no to conversion and choose to be charged in Saudi Riyals, not your home currency. That alone fixed it for me in a few cases.

I was in Jeddah last month and my German DKB Mastercard was working fine online but kept failing at physical stores and gas stations. I later found out the issue was with the card security settings inside the banking app, physical POS transactions outside Europe were limited by default. I changed the settings and enabled “Worldwide usage” and it worked immediately. Also note that some POS machines in Saudi Arabia only support Mada, Visa, or Mastercard, so if you’re using anything else, it might not be compatible. Try using the chip instead of swipe and avoid old ATMs or off-brand terminals.

I had a similar problem in Makkah during my Umrah trip. My Canadian Amex worked at the hotel but kept getting rejected at shops and taxis. No error message, just failed every time. I called Amex and they told me the merchant terminal type sometimes causes problems - especially if it’s a Mada-only POS or if the card machine hasn’t been updated to accept foreign-issued cards. I switched to using my Visa debit card from TD Bank, and that worked everywhere. So try switching card brands if you have one. Also enable contactless payment through Apple Pay or Google Pay, which worked more consistently for me even when swiping didn’t.

This happened to me in Riyadh in June. My UK-issued NatWest Visa card kept declining at restaurants and ATMs even though I had funds and international transactions turned on. I finally called the bank and they said their fraud system was blocking activity from Saudi Arabia due to location risk. Once I confirmed I was here, they lifted the block and it worked instantly. If your card is declining with no error, try calling your bank’s fraud department directly, not just regular customer service. It’s a common issue with Saudi POS systems triggering auto-blocks.