Credit Card Decline & Error Codes

You’re minding your own business, ringing up another sale for your next customer, and then it happens–your normally boring credit card terminal spits out a strange number and message indicating that the transaction did not go through as expected.

You’ve just received a credit card decline code, in fact. But what does it mean, and what can you do about it?

What Are Credit Card Decline Codes?

Credit card decline codes are sent to merchants from credit card processors when a transaction cannot be processed. Each numerical code corresponds to a different reason a transaction may be declined, such as the card being reported lost or stolen.

Who Issues Credit Card Decline Codes?

Credit card decline codes can originate from just about any point in the transaction cycle. That means it’s possible for any of the following to be the source of the code you receive:

• Your payment processor
• Your payment gateway (if you’re using one)
• The card’s issuing bank

That said, certain codes are more likely to come from one of those sources than the others. For example, code 51 (insufficient funds) is probably coming from the issuing bank, not the payment processor or gateway.

It should be noted that error codes originating from the issuing bank tend to be harder, if not impossible, to resolve at the point of sale.

Common Reasons For Credit Card Declined Codes

Broadly speaking, a credit card decline code occurs when some technical or financial factor prevents a transaction from completing. Very often, there’s an issue with the cardholder’s account or the card itself.

A card might be declined if the cardholder has insufficient credit remaining on their account. It may be declined if the card is reported as lost or stolen. It may also be declined if fraud alerts are triggered. And, of course, it will be declined if the card is expired. These are just a few of the more common reasons you might receive a credit card declined code.

List Of Credit Card Declined Codes, Explained

There are a lot of credit card codes. Typically, when you receive a credit card code, you’ll also get a brief note explaining why the transaction was declined. Nevertheless, it can be helpful to have a reference of the types of codes you might encounter.

This list doesn’t represent every possible error code you could get (payment processors also have their own), but these are by far the most common.

You’ll note that some codes are very similar to each other. You don’t need to necessarily know the systemic quirks that produce a code 00 instead of a code 85, however. It’s just useful to have a general sense of what went wrong and what, if anything, you can do about it.

How To Deal With Credit Card Error Codes

Credit card error codes can be an annoying interruption to the normal flow of your business, so you’re probably interested in what you can do about them when they arise. The actions you can or should take will depend on the type of code you received.

Can You Prevent Credit Card Processing Error Codes?

Since there are multiple points of origin for credit card processing codes, and your business is only one of them, it’s not possible to completely prevent them. After all, you have no control over what’s going on with your customers’ credit card accounts.

Still, there are things you can do to reduce the number of error codes you receive.

If you’re getting a lot of errors related to your payment processor, you may want to consider changing payment processors. That goes double if you find that you’re dealing with an unusually high volume of fraudulent transactions, particularly eCommerce transactions. If you are, it may be time to consider a processor with advanced anti-fraud features.

If you’re running into a lot of problems with human error, you may want to reconsider your hardware, terminals, or online checkout to ensure they are intuitive and reasonably painless to use.

How Do Credit Card Decline Codes Really Affect Your Business?

If you accept credit card payments as part of your business, credit card decline codes just come with the territory. Usually, they’re just momentary interruptions to the flow of your business and rarely constitute full-blown crises.

In most cases, you should be able to resolve the problem by running the transaction again or asking your customer if they have either another card or cash to pay with.

Is your terminal spitting out too many credit card decline codes? Consider upgrading with one of the best credit card machines & terminals for small businesses.