Why do ATMs and shops in Turkey just keep declining my wise card. It worked fine in other countries
I had the same issue in Istanbul two weeks ago. My Wise Visa card worked fine in Spain, but in Turkey it was declined at Garanti and VakıfBank ATMs. The error said “transaction not allowed.” I went into a Yapı Kredi branch and the teller explained that some local ATMs block fintech cards automatically. I ended up using my physical Mastercard from Wise at an Akbank ATM with no problem.
This is a known issue with Wise in Turkey. Their cards are issued by:
Belgium for EUR accounts
UK for GBP accounts
US for USD accounts
Turkish systems often block these. Temporary fixes:
Enable "international transactions" in Wise app
Try contactless payments (more likely to work)
Use in-app virtual card for online purchases
Withdraw from Halkbank ATMs (most consistent success)
Permanent solution: Get a Turkish friend to send you a local prepaid card (like Papara) and top it up via Wise transfers.
Key Takeaways:
Decline rates of 20-40% are normal for foreign cards in Turkey
ATMs at airports/big banks work more reliably
Mobile payments succeed more often than physical cards
Always carry backup payment options
Smaller transactions (<1,000 TL) get blocked less
Three likely reasons:
Turkey's "new" banking regulations require extra verification for foreign transactions
Some ATMs block non-Turkish IBANs (Wise uses Belgian IBAN)
Merchant category blocks (many Turkish POS systems auto-decline certain card types)
What worked:
Withdraw at PTT (Post Office) ATMs
Add Wise to Starbucks/PayPal and pay through those
Carry backup cash from airport ATM on arrival
Just went through this! Turkish merchants often block:
Cards issued outside Turkey
Prepaid cards (some systems classify Wise as prepaid)
Online banking cards
Solution that worked for me: Go to any Garanti BBVA branch and ask them to manually process the transaction. For shopping, get a local SIM and use Wise through mobile payment apps like BiP or Paycell.
Turkish payment systems are notoriously finicky with foreign cards. My Wise card gets declined about 30% of the time here, even at major chains like Migros. The issue isn't your card - it's Turkish banks' overly aggressive fraud algorithms. Workarounds: 1) Use Apple/Google Pay (works more reliably) 2) Try smaller withdrawal amounts (under 2,000 TL) 3) Stick to Ziraat Bank or IS Bank, HSBC or ING ATMs which seem more foreign-card friendly.