I received a notification that said ‘Card Payment Declined - declined due to merchant category blocked’, why is this?

If you get a notification that says ‘declined due to merchant category blocked’, this might mean that you’re trying to make a payment to a prohibited industry. The notification will contain your payment amount and the message - ‘declined due to declined advice’. As well as being obligated by regulators, we restrict certain transaction types to keep our community safe and secure, and reduce your risk of being affected by financial crime. Payments to prohibited industries like Crypto, gambling, or lotteries can’t be made from your Tide account under any circumstances. Although we cannot list all prohibited reasons for the safety of the wider community, you can find more information on what industries are prohibited and why in this blog.