Understand Automatic Payment Profile Deactivation on High-Risk Events

Maxio Payments includes additional safeguards to help merchants prevent repeated payment failures and reduce exposure to fraud on card-based transactions. When certain high-risk events occur during payment processing or dispute handling, Maxio Payments may automatically deactivate the affected Payment Profile and notify the merchant, allowing for timely follow-up with the customer.

When payment profiles are automatically deactivated

Payment Profiles may be automatically deactivated under the following conditions:

1. High-risk decline responses When a charge attempt returns a high-risk refusal code, Maxio Payments evaluates the decline against a predefined set of high-risk indicators, including (but not limited to) referral, blocked/restricted card, expired card, invalid card number, revoked authorization, fraud, or suspected fraud. If the refusal code is included in this list, the associated card Payment Profile is permanently deactivated.
2. Fraud- or authorization-related chargeback reason codes When a card chargeback is received, Maxio Payments checks the network-specific reason code against a curated set of fraud or "not authorized" classifications. If the chargeback reason code matches this set, the related card Payment Profile is disabled and no longer used for future billing attempts.
3. High-risk ACH/direct debit reject codes When a direct debit payment is rejected due to a response indicating an invalid account or revoked authorization, the associated Payment Profile is permanently deactivated with no path to re-enable it. Merchants are notified via email so they can follow up with the customer to collect payment via a new method.
4. Unauthorized ACH return (R29) An R29 return ("corporate customer advises not authorized") disables the Payment Profile separately from the reject codes above. Unlike those, an R29-disabled Payment Profile can be re-enabled, but only by Maxio's Risk team after reviewing the case. Merchants and customers can't re-enable it themselves.

What happens when a payment profile is deactivated

If the event qualifies for automatic deactivation:

• The Payment Profile is disabled and isn't used for future automatic billing attempts.
• The merchant receives an email notification with details about the deactivation and recommended next steps.

Payment Profile deactivation prevents repeated failed attempts and enables merchants to take corrective action promptly.

Merchant email notification

For qualifying high-risk events, Maxio Payments sends a merchant notification email to any merchant user who has email notifications enabled for billing issues. R29 returns send a distinct email from the other three scenarios, since the resolution path is different.

High-risk decline, chargeback, or generic ACH reject codes (scenarios 1-3):

Subject: {payment profile name} Payment Profile Disabled for {customer name} on {site name}, Action Needed

Body:

Hello [Merchant account name],
 
A payment method used to process a payment on one or more invoices for [customer name] has been permanently deactivated due to one or more of the following payment failures:
 
• A credit card decline with an 'invalid account', or 'suspected fraud transaction' response.
• A rejected direct debit payment with an 'invalid account', or 'revoked authorization' response.
• A credit card dispute for the reasons 'fraudulent transaction', or 'not authorized'.
 
We ask that you reach out to the impacted customer and instruct them to create a new payment method.
 
Payment profile details:
Type: [Credit Card, Bank Account, or PayPal]
Card number: [XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-3507] (credit cards) or Account number: [XXXXXXXX1234] (bank accounts)
Customer Link: {link}
 
Thank you for your assistance.
Maxio Support
support@maxio.com

Email Formatting Notes:

• The payment method type is displayed as Credit Card, Bank Account, or PayPal.
• Card and account numbers are masked for security.
• The customer link directs the merchant to the customer's profile in Maxio.
• The signature closes with a link to the Maxio Help Center. To reach Support directly, email support@maxio.com or use the online Maxio Support form.

Unauthorized ACH return (scenario 4, R29):

Subject: ACH Return R29 - Payment Profile Disabled for {site name}, Risk Review Required

The body explains that the Payment Profile can only be re-enabled by Maxio staff after a Risk review, and directs the merchant to contact risk@maxio.com rather than to add a new payment method.

Recommended merchant action

For scenarios 1-3, merchants should contact the customer and request a new payment method. A new card or bank account must be added before future charges or dunning attempts can succeed.

For an R29 return (scenario 4), contact risk@maxio.com to request Risk team review. Adding a new payment method doesn't resolve an R29-disabled Payment Profile. It can only be re-enabled by Maxio staff.

Related information

For guidance specific to permanent authorization failures, see Understand Hard Declines.

For ACH reject codes that result in a temporarily disabled Payment Profile you can re-enable yourself, see Reactivate a Temporarily Disabled Payment Profile.

To see the recommended response for a specific decline code, see Understand Credit Card Decline Responses.

To learn how a chargeback is resolved once it's received, see Managing Chargebacks with Maxio Payments.