🔢 Card Statuses and Error Codes

Learn about the different card statuses and error codes card purchases will go through.

Statuses

StatusDescription
AUTHORIZEDThe transaction has been approved but not yet finalized.
SETTLEDThe transaction is complete, with funds moved from the cardholder’s to the merchant’s account.
REFUNDEDThe transaction amount has been returned to the cardholder.
FAILEDThe transaction was not successful.
CHARGEBACKThe cardholder disputes the transaction, and the amount is being investigated.
CHARGEBACK_LOSTThe dispute was resolved in favor of the cardholder, and the merchant loses the funds.
CHARGEBACK_WONThe dispute was resolved in favor of the merchant, and the funds are retained.
VOIDEDThe transaction was canceled before it was completed.
EXPIRED(Pix Pay-ins Only) - The payment window has expired. Customers have 5 minutes to complete their Pix payment. If the payment isn’t made within this time, the Pix QR code will expire, and a new QR code will need to be generated to proceed with the payment.

Card processing error codes

Errors related to credit or debit card transactions only

🚧 All of the codes listed below come from the customers bank. These codes do NOT come from Coinflow.

Code

Message

Description

1

Call Issuer

Cardholder’s credit card company has blocked the transaction. Have the client call the 800 number on the back of the card and find out why.

2

Call Issuer

Cardholder’s credit card company has blocked the transaction. Have the client call the 800 number on the back of the card and find out why.

4

Pick Up Card

“Pick Up Card” is an electronic payment code from the card’s issuer declining the transaction and instructing the merchant to retain the card. The main reasons why a bank might refuse to authorize a transaction are:

  • The card was reported lost
  • The card was reported stolen
  • The transaction was flagged as fraudulentThe first thing the customer should do when encountering a “pick up card” code is call their issuer to resolve the problem. If they cannot clarify the situation, they might need to use an alternate payment method.

5

Do Not Honor

There are a few main reasons that a Do Not Honor code is fired, some offering a bit more clarity than others:

  • Customer has a hold on their card.
  • Customer has multiple denied payments on their card in a row, so it has been locked until the customer contacts the bank.
  • You are operating in a different country than the customer’s bank is.
  • Transaction was caught in the issuing bank’s anti-fraud system for any reason. This could be an unusually large purchase or a purchase placed with a combination of odd factors (late at night, multiple orders within close proximity, etc.).
  • Customer did not have enough funds.Sometimes when a bank doesn’t have a clear reason why a charge is denied, it will opt for “Do Not Honor” as a sort of catch-all denial. This is especially true in older systems that aren’t as up to date as they should be. It’s basically a default bucket that issuing banks punt to when they can’t be more specific.

6

Error

The card-issuing bank detected an error but can’t specify what it is. You can try the card again or call the bank directly for further instructions.

7

Pick Up Card (Fraud)

There is a problem with the card, and it should not be re-tried. It has been marked for fraud. Call the 800 number on the back of the card to determine the issue.

10

Partial Approval

A partial authorization occurs when a payment card authorization is attempted for a transaction and there are not enough funds available in the account to cover the full amount. The issuer returns an authorization for the amount available in the account, leaving you to obtain an additional form of payment from the customer for the balance.

12

Invalid Transaction

Issuing bank will not accept the transaction. The decline reason code 12 comes straight from the issuing bank or the bank associated with the customer’s credit card. This means for some reason, the issuer is declining the payment transaction attempt invalid, resulting in an error code. There are many reasons you may get an invalid transaction message. Some possible causes for the error:

  • Incorrect card number. The most common reason for a decline reason code 12 is simply due to keying in the credit card number wrong.

  • Card itself is invalid. The card may have been flagged or canceled for suspicious activity.

  • Expiration date issues. It is possible that the cashier accidentally mistyped the expiration date when keying in the card information. Another common cause is that the card has expired.
    Strange activity. Depending on the POS System, if the merchant tries a unique request like refunding a refund, the system may not know how to handle it and show error code 12.

  • Multiple transactions in a row. If you try to run a card various times in quick succession, safety measures will kick in. These are in place to prevent fraud or multiple charges and will decline the transaction after a few attempts.

  • Address verification service error. If the customer accidentally keyed in the wrong zip code, the system will see that it’s different from their address. If the information doesn’t match, the terminal will return error code 12.

13

Card Amount Invalid

A customer or employee enters an invalid purchase amount. This happens when a negative or illegible symbol is entered by accident or because of another typo.

14

Card Number Invalid

Customer entered an invalid card number.

15

No Such Issuer

Card number was entered incorrectly. More specifically: the first number is incorrect. Each major credit card provider has its own number that every card they issue must start with. Here is a list of each credit card carrier and their first numbers:

3 – American Express
4 – Visa
5 – Mastercard
6 – Discover

19

Re-Enter

Re-enter the data. You might call error code 19 a mystery code, as the credit card terminal is telling you it does not understand or know why the transaction has failed.

An error code may pop up because the:

  • Credit card is not active
  • Customer reached their spending limit
  • Cardholder is behind on payments
  • Purchaser is not the owner of the card
  • Retailer entered the data for the card incorrectly
  • Wrong credit card type for reader

25

POS Condition Code Invalid Value

Cardholder’s card information may be invalid.

28

No Reply

Cardholder’s bank is not replying to the credit card transaction. Try waiting and then re-run the transaction.

41

Pick Up Card (Lost)

Lost card. Fraud has been reported on the account, and it should not be re-tried.

43

Pick Up Card (Stolen)

Stolen card. Fraud has been reported on the account, and it should not be re-tried.

46

Account is closed or needs to be re-validated

Customer’s issuing bank is declining transactions due to account closure or a validation issue. Do not attempt to re-process. Cardholder must contact the card-issuing bank to correct the validation issue.

51

Insufficient Funds

This is not a general error: Cardholder does not have the funds to complete the transaction.

Credit cards have a credit limit that purchases cannot exceed. For example, a customer has a credit card with a limit of 1,000andtheyveused1,000 and they’ve used 975 of that. If the customer uses their card to pay for a $50 transaction at your business, you’ll receive the decline code 51 response. The same is true for debit cards and the balance in a customer’s bank account. If the purchase amount exceeds a checking account balance you will be presented with a decline code 51 message.

54

Card Expired

Credit card being processed is expired and no longer valid to use.

57

Service Not Allowed

Bank that has issued this card does not allow this type of purchase.

Attempt a transaction with a card incompatible with our networks. Often, the card issuer will not allow the transaction, as the customer cannot use that specific card for the payment transaction.

59

Suspected Fraud

Transaction declined by the issuer because it appears fraudulent.

61

Customer Exceeds Withdrawal Limit

Cardholder does not have enough credit to pay the specified amount. Ask the cardholder for another card to use for the payment.

62

Restricted SIC Code

Invalid service code, appears for one of two reasons:

  • You’re trying to process an American Express or Discover card and the merchant account you have cannot accept these types of payment
  • A customer attempted to make an online payment using a credit card that does not allow online payments

63

Restricted

Security code on the back of the credit card was not correct.

65

Customer Exceeds Activity Limit

Customer exceeded their credit limit. Or, they have reached the maximum number of permitted transactions for a given period.

Payment processor may confuse a declined 65 code with code 51, which means the card has insufficient funds. In either case – whether the code is 65 or 51 – the cardholder’s card has reached or exceeded the amount they can use for credit.

78

No Account

Issuing bank is declining the transactions, and there may be a problem at the issuing bank’s end. Clients should contact corresponding institutions.

91

Issuer unavailable or switch inoperative

Cardholder’s bank is not replying to the credit card transaction. Try waiting and then re-run the transaction.

93

Legal Violation

The card-issuing bank has frozen the customer’s account (for any number of reasons). Call the bank directly for next steps.

96

System Malfunction

Card-issuing bank is having a system malfunction and is declining the transaction attempt.

97

CVV Mismatch

CVV entered does not match the back of the card.

997

User Failed 3DS

Customer was presented challenge and could not successfully pass it.

998

Rejected by Issuer

If you are using 3DS, the issuer outright rejected the card, determined the risk of fraud was high, or was unable to validate the card

999

Rejected by Fraud Monitor

If you have chargeback protection services enabled, error code 999 means the payment was rejected due to high fraud or chargeback risk associated with the customer