After close to 10 hours of trying, I finally got a solution. And hope this might help some of you with a similar situation.

Last night(Sep. 16 in CT), my wife got disconnected from the game and when she tried to log in back, there was a message telling us to subscribe. So she used her card under our joing account and paid. No problem.

But then 10 seconds later when I tried to do the same thing with the same card, it declined. So I used my credit card with my name on it and tried to pay for my sub but got declined. After that, how many times I tried, either error 401 or 601 came and nothing happened.

And then this morning(Sep. 17) around 11 am, I logged into get a live assistance but after waiting 2 hours to be 'queue 1', disconnected me saying no agents available at this time. I tried all day and same results. After the 4th time, I finally got a representative and I was able to report my issue. Very helpful rep Daniel reviewed the issue under my account and told me my account is blocked for 30 days. Before that, I tried to buy Crysta with my credit card but didn't work either.
I told him that also. And he said he cannot remove my restriction so the only way to pay for my subscription would be buying 'Ultima Game Card.' I ran into the closest GameStop and purchased enough game card to subscribe 180 days and it was smooth. And now I am enjoying the Eorzea again!!

Hope this helps.