Since August’s last week many USA iTunes customers while using the store with a Credit Card or PayPal have seen this error message out again and again, unable to buy anything or update their Apps.
Your credit card was declined. Please enter valid credit card information.
When you try to buy something (an app or song) after you login to your account, you get a new window that states:
Verification is required
You must enter your Apple ID and password, click Billing Info, and verify your payment information in order to make purchases.
And once again to log in again to verify your payment details, you get a form with red letters indicating:
You must verify your payment information before you can make purchases.
Although you do update your data, either of PayPal or credit card, and press Done, it again gives the error message:
Your credit card was declined. Please enter valid credit card information
So your credit card was rejected / denied by iTunes, even though you enter valid values in this regard. And this becomes in an infinite loop in which Apple will never accept your data or other cards, which are also valid.
Reasons
There is a theory: Reading some forums about it, most of these mistakes happen when your IP is outside of USA, meaning that even though you use a U.S. Paypal account or credit card, if you are not in the same country, you will have this error.
Some people reported this error while trying to buy something from a not U.S. country with a U.S. account, but when they called a relative in the USA to login with the same account, the error did not exist. 
Solutions
It is an error from iTunes Store and not from your bank account or PayPal. Sadly, there’s no apparent solutions . I recommend to you to read the following Apple Support forums, maybe a solution will appear there, but until now there is none:
- Topic: Credit Card is Declined
- Topic: Your payment method was declined
- Topic: Credit card verification loop
As you can see it is not an isolated error and it is happening to several customers.
Some of them recommend that the best solution is to send an email to Apple Support to the following link and wait 48 hours for a response:
Apple Support, iTunes Store: Billing, managing your account
Hopefully we will have a solution.
If you went through something similar and you solved it, please leave a comment and share your experience 
UPDATE: Once it was solved by Apple Support, after a few days the same problem returns
The first time I got the Credit Card message that it was Declines was on August 28th. I use PayPal with US address and US credit card, but I live in South America.
I sent the first email (using the form) on September the 1st. The same day Apple Support said they will find a solution and they have requested assistance.
I sent a second email on September the 3rd.
I received an Apple email saying my account was solved on September the 4th.
Yesterday (September 7) My account is having again the same problem. (and I have being buying stuff almost everyday).
I am sending a third email today (September 8).
I’m a US citizen in Iraq and have been using iTunes until about a week ago, then fell to the same fate as the others. I’ve had a couple emails back and forth with customer service, but no fix as of yet.
I tried the iTunes prepaid card, but can’s use it through the same account as you still have to have a credit card attached to the iTunes store account. I think I can go to the actual web site, not the application and set up an account without a credit card, but don’t want a new account. I really don’t want to loose the last several years of purchase history.
I’m not as irritated with the problem as I am the lack of customer service. Anyone seen the video from Iraq with the HP printer. I’m about ready to go there with my IPOD.
@Bill
Yes, I have seen the HP printer video. Do the same with the IPOD and email than a video. It might wake them up.
apple fail #applefail
Residing in the US, with US credit card accounts and paypal, all matching to the “t”, itunes customer for 5+ years, has had iphone for 2+ years (has become an extension of my hand), recently bought a MacBook Pro (because of their virus free reputation) never a problem until 3 days ago.
Like everybody else here I checked with my bank and paypal and there were no problems on their end. Tried using a different laptop, starting from scratch, out of factory settings, downloading everything for the first time, deleting cookies, emptying cache, etc, etc…nothing helped.
Tried calling Apple, of course encounter the problem many others are complaining about, no direct line to Itunes, Apple customer service has nothing to do with Itunes, only way of communicating is through email.
Although they did communicate within 24hrs in a very courteous and apologetic way (I have nothing bad to say about their customer service, it is not their fault that their “techies” can’t figure it out, sticking their heads out and getting yelled at) letting me know they had removed all blocks in my account and try in 24 hrs,…again like many others in this forum,( he even followed up to make sure my issued had been resolved) I’m still experiencing the same loop, the error message “I” got after several attempts to link 2 different accounts to itunes and getting the same old “your credit card has been denied” was something like this: “Itunes was unable to receive the verification numbers from your account, etc, etc”.
I am sending a link of this thread on my reply to the email from itunes customer service and a list of all the billing agreement numbers paypal created for it in hopes they can be entered manually and finally have my account back. I’m even going to try the Apple store at the mall tomorrow.
I am very discourage by reading all this and seeing that the issue started a long time ago and there is still new people experiencing the same problems. Obviously there is no solution to this date. I’m curious to find out how many of you out there have been problem free for a while after your resolution, (that it seams to be different for everybody).
It seams that there is no point on posting my issue here because all are experiencing the same ones, but at least I can vent and see that I’m not alone (not that I’m happy with the misfortune of all of you) but I felt the duty of posting to show others out there that this is still an ongoing issue and if I ever get it resolved you’ll be the second ones to find out.
I wish I had come across this blog before I bought the new ipod touch (to replaced the nano that replaced the shuffle) and itunes cards for Christmas for my children. I am saddened, disappointed and angry. I hope they’ll experience a Christmas miracle and can enjoy their gifts.
COME ON APPLE GET IT TOGETHER!!!! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE A VIRUS FREE COMPUTER COMPANY AND YOU CAN’T SOLVE A STUPID BUG? YOU ARE LOOSING MILLIONS IF NOT BILLIONS OF DOLLARS NOT ONLY ON LOCKED ACCOUNTS BUT ALSO ON CUSTOMERS LEAVING TO GREENER PASTURES, NOT TO MENTION WORD OF MOUTH AND THE POWER OF INTERNET TO REACH MILLIONS IN SECONDS.
I miss buying new apps and trying them out on my iphone late at night while waiting to fall asleep :'(
(follow up from previous post)
Went to the Apple Store, of course they couldn’t do anything software is working properly, Itunes is a separate entity, bla, bla. He did reinstall itunes 10 but I still couldn’t put my paypal account there. About an hour later, just to check, I went on itunes through my phone, asked me to verify payment put one of my credit cards and it work. I’m not even going to try to see if paypal works until after Christmas and make sure my kids can enjoy they ipods and itunes gift cards.
I don’t know if what he did fixed it or it was the guy at itunes customer service (removing the blocks). What ever it was I’m happy for now. I don’t like to have my credit card there, I’ve always used paypal for all internet transaction (whenever possible) but for now it would have to do.
Email itunes support they are pretty good about responding although my second email still has not be responded.
I’ll keep you posted
One thing to be aware of, I license us media content to foreign countries. Each territory in the world has a distributor that licenses specific rights in that territory. At this time there is no such thing as global licensing. So, if you are in france and you try to purchase and download a film from a us website the foreign ip is the only thing that limits your ability to do this and allows the local distributor the ability to earn it’s money. This system is old fashioned but right now it is the only system out there. I know it sucks but I do not see this changing any time soon.
Since when is “WTF” a swear word. Just to let you know if you use this term in an Apple tech support inquiry they will ignore you and block you. How do I know this? Because I sent the same inquiry using the “WTF” and one not using it…..only the email not using that term was responded term……
Hmmmm i wanna know,does this error only appear to ipod touch v4? because me and my friend share an account, she has ipod touch v3 and it works fine for her. I have v4, and it says the same thing to me. its annoying. i hope apple fixes this soon .
I am in the US and I can’t purchase any music but it did take my ITunes card and there is 15.00 dollars showing in the upper right hand side but when I pick a song I have to type my password in several times to no result. I have changed my password and still no result. thank you I really enjoy downloading music so help.
The real issue here is that apple wants you to have a credit
or debit card on file that has money. As soon as you try to use
thee app store w/o money on your account it will get some
type of error msg. Once you put money on your account, it
will allow you to use the app store again. Try for yourself & see.
Apple does not have enough integrity to tell you thee truth, so
they will just make up any thing. So I guess does free apps
are not free after all.
You talk about infuriating stupidity on the part of the i-Tunes store, exceeded only by the incompetance of customer service person. I’m out of the country for a few months, so I set up a forwarding mailbox in Texas. The idiots had the audacity to hit me with a Texas sales tax and when I complained they shut down my account!!!! This was so I could re-open it at my new location to make sure I payed the right amount of sales tax. The moron didn’t even consider I live in New Hampshire, without sales tax, nor did the concept of snow birding ever cross her mind. So, here’s what I did: I downloaded a proxy server which made me look like I was in the USA and opened a new USA account. I had to use a different credit card because they still have the old one tied to Texas in their computer system. My reaction to all this is 1) I refuse to buy an i-Pod (I have the Touch now) and 2) I will never download an application unless it’s free. What in the @#$ were these idiots thinking to refuse a perfectly good credit card and generate so much ill-will in the process??
I live in the UK and use a UK iTunes account with a UK credit card. I am currently working in the US and Canada for a few months and also receive the credit card has been declined message. The response Apple gave me was that due to legal issues with record labels and software vendors I cannot purchase items outside my physical country.
This means that I should to use the US iTunes store with a US registered card and address when I’m working in the US, then use the Canadian iTunes store with a Canadian card and address when in Canada.
This sounds insane to me, especially as I have just bought an android app without any problems for my tablet using a UK card in the US.
I have been an Apple consumer and and advocate for years but am rapidly going off their closed systems and stupid reasons why I can’t configure my hardware the way I want.
this problem is going to kill me…
I’m overseas, via VPN, normally have a DPO address… unbelievable.
This problem is not limited to the United States. I live in the UK and I have a UK IP address and bank account and this still happens exactly as outlined above. Apple support told me to contact iTunes, and I am now waiting for a response from iTunes.
I’m now in Canada and the problem has disappeared. The problem only seems to be in the US. What happened to the globalized market?