Payments · Guide8 min readUpdated November 2, 2026

Declined Payments: Decline Codes, Retry Rules and What to Do

Visa decline codes by category, what to do for each, how many times Visa lets you retry, and how to tell an issuer decline from your own fraud block.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 6 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

A decline code tells you whether the same card can ever pass. Visa sorts every code into four categories: category 1 (lost, stolen, closed, invalid) must never be retried on that card; the others allow up to 20 attempts in 30 days, after fixing the cause. "Do not honor" (05) is generic: retry sparingly and ask for another card.

Visa's October 24, 2026 rules put 04, 07, 12, 14, 15, 41, 43, 46, 57, R0, R1 and R3 in category 1: never resubmit for the same card.
Categories 2, 3 and 4 allow "up to 20 attempts in 30 days"; older guides still quote 15.
A retry must not change the MCC, merchant country, acquiring identifier or ecommerce indicator of the original request.
Stripe recommends at most 8 retries per charge and warns that issuers can read extra retries as fraud.
Not every failed payment reaches the bank: a processor's fraud block never asks the issuer.

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On this page

This guide is the merchant's code book. Hard and soft declines are defined in the hard decline glossary entry; the full method to raise approvals is in payment acceptance rate.

Why payments get declined

A payment fails at one of three points, and only one of them is the bank's decision. Stripe names them issuer declines, blocked payments and invalid API calls2.

Fig. 1Three places a card payment can fail

approved declined or closed routing step

CheckoutInvalid data: wrong number, CVC or expiry
checked byFraud rulesBlocked: the issuer is never asked
sent toCard issuerDeclined, with a codeDeclined

find which gate said no before you act

Failure types from Stripe Docs, Declines, read November 2, 2026. Simplified path.

Issuers decide on "spending habits, account balance, and card data (expiration date, address information, and CVC)"2. They also flag large purchases and bursts of transactions as possible fraud3. For high-risk merchants, both show up often: big first orders, new customers from ads, renewals on cards that changed.

Credit card decline codes and what to do

Visa's table 7-2 tells you which codes can be retried. The table below uses Visa's own wording and categories1.

Code	Visa meaning	Category	What you do
04, 07	Pick up card	1	Stop. Ask for another card
12	Invalid transaction	1	Stop. Check what you sent, then ask for another card
14	Invalid account number	1	Stop. Customer checks the number or uses another card
15	NoSuch issuer	1	Stop. The card number is wrong
41, 43	Lost card, stolen card	1	Stop. Show a generic decline message
46	Closed account	1	Stop. Ask for another card
57	Transaction not permitted to cardholder	1	Stop. Offer another payment method
R0, R1, R3	Stop payment orders	1	Stop billing. The customer cancelled at the bank
51	Not sufficient funds	2	Retry later, or offer another method
59	Suspected fraud	2	Don't loop. The customer confirms with the bank
61, 65	Exceeds amount or frequency limit	2	Retry later, or another card
62	RestrictedCard	2	Customer contacts the bank
91, 96	Issuer or switch inoperative, system malfunction	2	Retry soon
9G	Blocked by cardholder	2	Customer unblocks the card in the bank app
54	Expired card	3	Get the new expiry date first
N7	CVV2 failure	3	Customer re-enters the code
1A (Europe, CEMEA)	Additional customer authentication required	3	Run 3D Secure, then retry
05 and all others	Generic	4	Retry sparingly, suggest another card

Source: Visa Core Rules, October 24, 2026, section 7.3.6.3, table 7-2, pp. 547 to 5491. Visa added 83 (Fraud/Security) to category 2 on July 25, 20261.

Fig. 2Visa's four decline categories

1 · Issuer will never approve
Lost, stolen, closed, invalid number, stop payment. Never resubmit for the same card.
2 · Issuer cannot approve at this time
Funds, limits, suspected fraud, issuer down. Up to 20 attempts in 30 days.
3 · Data quality
Expired card, CVV2 failure, authentication required in Europe. Fix the data, then retry.
4 · Generic
Every other code, 05 included. Up to 20 attempts in 30 days.

the category decides if a retry is allowed

Source: Visa Core Rules, October 24, 2026, table 7-2.

Mastercard sends its own guidance with some declines, the Merchant Advice Code (MAC)3. Stripe passes both through as network_decline_code and network_advice_code, and adds its own advice_code: do_not_try_again, try_again_later or confirm_card_data3.

Do not honor and other generic declines

"Do not honor" means the issuer said no without saying why. Stripe's description for do_not_honor is "declined for an unknown reason", and card issuers "categorize most declines as generic"3 4.

Check your own data first. If CVC or address checks failed, ask the customer to confirm both before charging again3.
Then ask for another card or method. Stripe suggests a buy now, pay later option against insufficient funds3.
Let the customer call the bank. Issuers discuss the details of a decline only with their cardholder3.

Watch out

Never tell the customer a card was reported lost or stolen. Stripe says to show lost_card, stolen_card and fraudulent "in the same manner as generic_decline"4. The person at your checkout may not be the cardholder.

How many times you can retry

Visa caps it: never after category 1, up to 20 attempts in 30 days for categories 2 to 41. Stripe is stricter and recommends a maximum of 8 retries per charge, because issuers "might see creating additional retries as potential fraud"3.

An Acquirer, a Merchant, a Payment Facilitator, or a VisaNet Processor that reattempts an Authorization Request following a Decline Response [...] must not intentionally manipulate any data elements from the original Authorization Request.

Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, October 24, 2026, section 1.7.2.1

The list includes the acquiring identifier, the acquirer and merchant country, the MCC and the Electronic Commerce Indicator1. Since the acquiring identifier is on that list, sending a declined payment to a second processor to get it approved breaks the rule: it stays a decline. Cascading is for outages and timeouts, where the issuer never answered.

Spacing, schedules and billing tools: smart retries. Sending a payment to another processor: cascading payments. Renewals that fail: subscriptions.

When the decline is yours, not the bank's

A blocked payment is a decline you caused. When Stripe blocks a payment, "it doesn't obtain authorization from the card issuer"2. A rule that's too strict turns good customers away before any bank sees them. Those are false declines.

Outcome type "blocked", not sent to networkYour fraud rules or your processorReview the rule; add a known customer to the allow list
"Unlikely to be authorized"Stripe's Adaptive Acceptance, on IC+ pricingExpected: it avoids network retry costs
Outcome type "issuer_declined" with a codeThe issuerUse the code table above
Outcome type "invalid"Your integrationFix the data sent; the payment never ran

On Stripe, "Add to allow list" stops your rules from blocking future payments that match, without retrying the blocked one2. Watch your decline rate in the first months too: Visa's new Asia Pacific program, MERP, looks at authorization declines alongside fraud and disputes5. Balancing fraud blocks and approvals: fraud and 3D Secure.

What to do after a decline

Find the failure type: blocked, invalid or issuer declined2.
Read the network code and advice code before anything else3.
Category 1 or do_not_try_again: stop and ask for another card1 3.
Data or authentication: get the corrected details, or run 3D Secure, then retry1.
Funds, limits, generic: retry later, within Visa's limit, and offer another method.
Off-session: email or notify the customer to come back and pay3.
Measure approvals on unique payments, excluding failed retries2.

Based on Visa Core Rules, October 24, 2026, and Stripe Docs, read November 2, 2026.

How to read the number: authorization rate. Expired cards on saved subscriptions: card account updater.

By industry

Industry	What changes	Guide
Supplements	Big bundles, new customers from ads and renewals on cards that changed trigger more issuer declines	Reducing payment declines for supplement brands
Skincare	Beauty checkouts already lose many shoppers; wallets and a clear descriptor matter more	Reducing payment declines for skincare brands
Online pharmacy	HSA and FSA cards the store isn't set up for, and authorizations that expire during prescription review	Reducing payment declines for online pharmacies
Telehealth	Three failure points: checkout, capture after the clinician's review within the 7-day hold, and the refill charge	Reducing payment declines for telehealth companies
Fitness	Big equipment orders that issuers flag as unusual, and protein or pre-workout refills charged to cards that changed	Reducing payment declines for fitness brands
Info products	High prices and foreign cards at checkout, then installments and renewals; on a high-ticket decline, offer a payment plan	Reducing payment declines for info product businesses

How Tagada helps

Each decline treated the right way

Routing across TagadaPay and processors such as Stripe, NMI and Airwallex with one logic, cascade to another processor when one is down or times out. Setup and fallback order: Tagada routing docs 6.
Native 3DS2, device intelligence and a rules engine, so authentication runs when an issuer asks for it.
Subscriptions with trials, billing cycles, retries and automatic recovery.
One-page checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Routing scored in real time: "Every transaction is scored against your live MID network in real time", then sent to the processor most likely to approve it, with a retry on decline. TagadaPay reports a +18% approval uplift.
Live in 24h: "One KYC. One signed package." TagadaPay distributes it across its processor network and follows up, and most merchants are live in under 24 hours.
From 2.9% + $0.29, no setup fees, no monthly minimums. High-risk verticals and edge cases are priced case by case.

Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

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Updated on November 2, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

What does do not honor mean?

It's code 05, a generic decline: the issuer refused without giving a reason. Under Visa's rules it falls in category 4, so a retry is allowed within 20 attempts in 30 days. Check CVC and address results, retry sparingly, and suggest another card. Only the cardholder can get the real reason from the bank.

What does decline code 51 mean?

Not sufficient funds. Visa puts 51 in category 2, "issuer cannot approve at this time", so you may retry later within the limit of 20 attempts in 30 days. At checkout, offer another card or a buy now, pay later option. On renewals, space retries over several days.

How many times can you retry a declined card?

On Visa, never after a category 1 code such as lost, stolen or closed account. For other codes, up to 20 attempts in 30 days. Stripe recommends no more than 8 retries per charge, since issuers can read more attempts as fraud. Don't change the MCC or merchant country to get a retry through.

Why are my customers' cards being declined when they have money?

Funds are only one signal. Issuers also weigh spending habits and card data, and flag large purchases or many transactions in a short time as possible fraud. Your own fraud rules can also block the payment before the bank sees it. Check the outcome type, then the code.

What does card issuer declined mean?

The bank that issued the card refused the authorization. It sends a code: some are final for that card, others temporary. If you see no network code at all, the payment probably never reached the issuer, because your processor blocked it or the data was invalid.

Sources

Checked November 2, 2026

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