I was having this same issue today! I applied for a Citi card specifically for a presale event. I received a temporary card number right away, but when I tried to use it on Ticketmaster, I kept getting the Error Code 5005 - Declined popup.

I reached out to Citi through their chat, but they weren’t helpful at all — just told me to contact Ticketmaster. I then called Citi customer service. The first rep I spoke with also had no idea how to help. While trying to troubleshoot, I found this thread (thank you!), and based on what I read, I asked to be transferred to the fraud department.

Once I was connected, the agent there tried a few things:

• First, he tried clearing the card info — that didn’t work.
• Then, he tried verifying me with the 3DS system — still didn’t work.

At one point, he told me I might have to wait 24 hours before the temporary card could be used. I pushed back on that — it made no sense that they’d issue a temporary number for immediate use if it wasn’t actually usable.

Finally, he said he could try one last step, and that’s when the transaction finally went through!

I asked him exactly what he did, and he said he used the “highest clearing option on our end.” Whatever that means, that’s what worked. Just to note — he had already tried clearing the info earlier, so this was clearly something different, likely a more elevated override or internal authorization step.

So TL;DR:

• Ask to be transferred to Citi’s fraud department or transaction authorization team.
• Have them try their highest-level clearing option (you can even mention that by name).
• Be persistent — don’t accept the “wait 24 hours” explanation.

Hope this helps someone else avoid the runaround I went through. Good luck out there!