Issue with abnormal card declinations in Apple Store

Since multiple cards are being declined and your banks aren’t showing a problem, I wouldn’t assume it’s a card balance or billing-address issue.

It’s possible the Apple Store order is being stopped by Apple’s payment or fraud screening, but that isn’t something you can clear yourself from your account.

I’d contact Apple Store Support and have them check the order/payment attempts. Keep the order number from the iPad purchase handy. I also wouldn’t keep retrying several different cards in the meantime, since that may make the situation harder to sort out.

Apple’s billing support page is here: Subscriptions and Billing - Official Apple Support

Yes, declines are issued by banks, not merchants. Payment failed is a merchant issue.

The split payment is normally not an issue. What “balance” are you referring to? You didn’t mention a balance in your original post. Are you referring to your gift card? You can use a gift card and a debit or credit card. Was the gift card part of the back to school promotion? Apple does exclude the purchase of some items using a gift card. Did you call the 1-800 number and attempt to purchase over the phone rather than online?

Apple is not a bank and cannot approve or decline credit card or debit card transactions. The authority to approve or decline transactions rests with the bank and/or the Payment Network Operator (Visa, Mastercard, American Express etc.).

When a payment method is declined you need to contact the support team at the bank that issued the card. Banks do not share an account owner’s financial or personal information with the merchant (Apple).