OCC & PaySimple: Understanding Credit Card Failure and Decline Codes

Understanding why credit card transactions are unsuccessful and a directory of common decline codes

Most Common Credit Card Decline Codes:

The failure codes defined below are used when your customer’s credit card issuer declines an attempted transaction. If this occurs, you can:

1. Use the chart below to understand why the transaction was declined by the cardholder’s bank.
2. Contact your customer and ask for a different form of payment.
3. Have your customer call their issuing bank (the number is typically printed on the back of the credit card) to resolve any issues that are preventing the transaction from being approved. Once your customer confirms that the bank will honor the card, you can attempt the transaction again.

ACH transactions have different return codes than credit cards, to learn about ACH return codes, click here. 

When viewing a declined credit card payment’s Transaction Details screen, the Status will show as Failed, with a Reason Description of DECLINE and one of the Authorization Codes below:

All other failures will have a reason description of Declined and the Authorization Code field will display a short description of the decline reason. 

The following are common decline messages with information on what to do about them:

• DECLINE
  This is a general decline message. Do not attempt the transaction again until you’ve spoken with your customers and they have either resolved with their card or they provide a different form of payment.
• DECLINE-CV2 FAIL
  This is typically an error with the CVV2 code entered for the card. Double check the entry and try the transaction again. If it fails a second time, ask your customer for a different form of payment.
• DECLINE-TRY LATER
  This is a soft decline message. Wait a bit and try the transaction again. If you continue to see this message, ask your customer for a different form of payment.
• INVALID DATA
  There is an error in the transaction data. Double check the card number and expiration date and try again. If you continue to see this message, contact us for assistance.
• INVLD ACCT
  The card number entered is invalid. Double check the number, make corrections and try again.
• INVLD EXP DATE
  The expiration date entered does not match the one on record for the credit card. Correct the entry and try the transaction again.
• INVLD MERCH ID
  There is an error with your account configuration. Please contact us for assistance.
• MUST BALANCE NOW
  There is an error with your account configuration. Please contact us for assistance. 
• PIC UP
  There is fraudulent activity associated with the card. 
• TRAN NOT ALLOWED
  Either your merchant account or your customer’s credit card account is not configured for the type of transaction you are attempting to process. Please contact us for assistance.

Additional Considerations:

If a transaction is flagged as fraudulent: Failure Code 07, 41, or 43, be careful about doing business with the customer attempting the transaction.

We recommend that you don’t ship goods or provide services until you see a successfully Settled transaction in PaySimple.