Understand Credit Card Decline Responses
Last updated on Aug 28, 2026
When a credit card transaction is declined, it's important to understand the cause and respond appropriately to avoid disruption in service or revenue. These are the recommended actions for each type of decline response.
| Decline Response | Severity | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| Address mismatch | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Obtain correct address and reattempt |
| Customer first name is required | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Obtain correct name and reattempt |
| Customer state required | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Obtain customer state and reattempt |
| Invalid transaction | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Reattempt in 1-2 days If decline continues, reach out to customer for resolution or alternate payment |
| Declined: retry transaction | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Reattempt in 1-2 days If decline continues, reach out to customer for resolution or alternate payment |
| Generic decline | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Reattempt in 1-2 days If decline continues, reach out to customer for resolution or alternate payment |
| Insufficient funds | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Reattempt in 1-2 days If decline continues, reach out to customer for resolution or alternate payment |
| Invalid transaction or Card restriction | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Verify cardholder information and reattempt If decline continues, reach out to customer for resolution or alternate payment |
| Issuer generated error | Low Risk - Safe to reattempt | Reattempt in 1-2 days If decline continues, reach out to customer for resolution or alternate payment |
| Fraud-canceled | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Card not active Contact customer for alternative payment |
| Lost/stolen card | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Expired Card Contact customer for alternative payment |
| No such issuer | High Risk - Do not reattempt | CC Expired Contact customer for alternative payment |
| Pickup card | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Invalid account number Contact customer for alternative payment |
| Restricted card | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Invalid Transaction after failed 2nd attempt Contact customer for alternative payment |
| Suspected fraud | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Valid ABA routing number required Contact customer for alternative payment |
| The account was closed | High Risk - Do not reattempt | The account was closed Contact customer for alternative payment |
| Cardholder transaction not permitted | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Insufficient funds after 2nd or 3rd attempt Contact customer for alternative payment |
| Declined: do not honor | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Do not reattempt Contact customer for alternative payment |
| Transaction declined, FRAUD, or FRAUD-CANCELLED | High Risk - Do not reattempt | Do not reattempt; transaction declination could be due to a number of reasons such as transaction limit exceeded, issuer country not supported, shopper prohibited due to previous fraud chargeback or ACH return, AVS or CVV cannot be verified, and more. Contact customer for resolution or alternative payment, then contact the Maxio Payments Risk team, support@maxio.com. |
Related information
For the reasons Maxio itself rejects a transaction before it ever reaches the issuer, see Understand Transaction Rejection Reasons.
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