Call Issuer Decline Code: Meaning, Stats, and How To Fix?

What Does Call Issuer Decline Code Mean?

A card issuer decline occurs when a bank or financial institution that issued a credit or debit card refuses to authorize a transaction. The customer needs to contact their bank.

This rejection can happen for various reasons, and it typically results in the merchant receiving a decline code along with a brief explanation.

The decline code originates from the card issuing bank and is further grouped by card networks. Stripe, Paddle, Braintree further group these codes and return a code to you.

Common Reasons for Call Issuer Decline Code

• Insufficient Funds: One of the most straightforward reasons for a decline is that the cardholder does not have enough funds in their account to cover the transaction.
• Incorrect Card Details: If the cardholder enters incorrect information, such as the card number, expiration date, or CVV code, the transaction will be declined.
• Suspicion of Fraud: Transactions that appear unusual or suspicious may trigger a decline from the issuer as a protective measure against potential fraud.
• Expired Card: If a card has expired, any transaction attempts will be declined.
• Lost or Stolen Card: If the cardholder has reported their card as lost or stolen, the issuer will reject any transaction attempts to prevent unauthorized use.
• Credit Limit Exceeded: For credit cards, if the transaction would exceed the cardholder's available credit limit, the issuer will decline the transaction.

Although, It's Not Common

Other decline codes like Do Not Honor, Insufficient Funds, Transaction Not Allowed, are far more common. If you want to reduce involuntary churn, focusing on Call Issuer decline code will be one piece of the puzzle and there is a lot more that you can do with Churnkey.

Types of Call Issuer Declines

Declines can be categorized into two main types:

• Soft Declines: These are temporary holds on transactions, often due to issues like insufficient funds or network connectivity problems. They can sometimes be resolved by retrying the transaction.
• Hard Declines: These are more serious and indicate that the issuer will not authorize the transaction, often due to fraud concerns or other significant issues.

Learn more about types of declines:

Hard vs Soft Declines: Definition, Calculator, Strategies

Soft declines are temporary issues (e.g., insufficient funds, credit limit exceeded) that can be resolved with precision retries and dunning campaigns. Hard declines are permanent issues (e.g., stolen cards, account closures) and require customer intervention via dunning campaigns.

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How to Fix Call Issuer Declines?

Even with all the ambiguity around the Call Issuer decline code, there are multiple ways to manage it if you're a subscription business. Churnkey recovers up to 89% of the failed payments with its failed payment suite of products.

1. Retry The Payment

Context: Call Issuer is a soft decline, which means that it can be retried. If it were a hard decline like 'fraud', you would not be allowed to retry the payment.

Caution: Be aware of retry limits—Mastercard allows 35 attempts and Visa 15 within 30 days. Exceeding these limits can lead to fines as high as $15,000.

Solution: Use Churnkey's Precision Retries, which recover up to 89% of failed payments without heavy engineering resources. We continuously improve Precision Retries to be more precise. It listens to the decline reason provided by the card issuer, and will only retry cards conditionally based on this reason. For instance, we'll retry on insufficient funds, do not honor, generic decline, or try again later, but if we get a decline code like stolen card or card velocity exceeded, Churnkey won't attempt further retries through either precision retries or email-attached auto retries.

2. Request Card Change

Context: Address expired cards or virtual cards by asking customers to enter a different card. This requires customer action but is most likely to succeed simply because a new card is added in.

Caution: Ensure the process is seamless with no logins or multi-step verifications.

Solution: Churnkey provides a frictionless dunning (email + SMS) platform that allows customers to update their cards easily, with options for advanced personalization (plan name, subscription age, trialing, etc.).

3. Leverage Offers and Partial Payments

Context: Sometimes customers will quietly let their cards expire on purpose. Offer discounts and partial payments that auto-apply to their account.

Caution: Manage potential system abuse when offering discounts.

Solution: Implement Churnkey's Dunning Offers to entice customers to update their cards with incentives like partial payments or automatic discount codes. Churnkey has anti-abuse built in.

4. Feature Blocking

Context: Blocked product access can prompt action. Users can escalate this issue to their billing manager.

Caution: Prevent unpaid usage when doing so. Depending on your settings, users may be prevented from accessing certain features.

Solution: With Churnkey, you can dynamically block feature access for past-due accounts. And customers can update their payment details directly inline without navigating elsewhere.

5. Monitor Metrics

Context: Since call_issuer isn't clear why a payment fails, what you can rely on are metrics. Try different offers and keep a close eye on the metrics to see what changes. Use metrics to gauge the effectiveness of your strategies.

Solution: You don’t have time to parse overloaded charts and confusing terminology. Churnkey’s best-in-class analytics speak plainly—helping you and your team track boosted revenue, offer uptake, recovery rates, and more.

Case Studies

1. Veed.io

Veed.io successfully leveraged tailored discounts and pause options, saving nearly 5,000 canceling customers. Utilizing Churnkey's Precision Retries and Dunning Offers, they recovered over 14,000 failed payments, achieving a 35% increase in their save rate. Read Veed.io's case study.

2. Sudowrite

Sudowrite boosted revenue by over six figures within a year across various churn channels by integrating Churnkey voluntary and involuntary suite into their operations. Read Sudowrite's case study.

Common Errors and Misconceptions with Call Issuer

Common errors or misconceptions when dealing with the call_issuer decline code include:

1. Assuming it's a permanent block: Many believe the decline is final, but it can be due to temporary issues like insufficient funds or withdrawal limit exceeded.
2. Retrying the transaction repeatedly: This can trigger alerts and further declines. It’s better to stay under the limits, contact the card issuer, or use a different payment method.
3. Blaming the merchant: Customers often think the issue is with the merchant, but it's typically due to the card issuer's policies.
4. Ignoring the need to contact the bank: Some users don’t realize that contacting their bank can resolve the issue, especially if it's due to security concerns or a need for additional verification.
5. Misunderstanding the decline reason: "Call_Issuer" is a general code, and its exact cause isn't always clear, leading to confusion about the appropriate next steps.

FAQs

What does call issuer mean on credit card?

Call Issuer is a decline code used by banks to indicate that a transaction has been rejected. The customer needs to call the bank and learn why their payment is rejected.

What does debit not available code 01 mean?

Typically, contact Call Issuer refers to a declined transaction when the bank or the card issuing network (Visa, Mastercard) rejects a payment. This code usually means the card issuer could not approve the transaction, but the specific reason may vary.