Blog
Decline Codes
A reference for Stripe decline codes and payment failure reasons, with practical guidance on recovering failed subscription payments.
Decline Codes
Stripe card not supported decline code: meaning, stats, and how to fix?
Card Not Supported refers to when transactions are refused due to card type restriction, geographic restriction, or bank policies. It's a hard decline so the best thing to do is to nicely ask customers to enter a new card.
Decline Codes
Stripe card velocity exceeded decline code: meaning, stats, and how to fix?
Card Exceeded Decline refers to when transactions are refused because customers exceeds the balance or the transaction limit (# or $). You can let the customer know and make it easy for them to enter a new card. It's a hard decline which means merchants cannot retry the payment.
Decline Codes
Restricted card decline code (62): meaning, stats, and how to fix?
Restricted card refers to when transactions are refused because the card is reported lost or stolen. You can let the customer know and make it easy for them to enter a new card. It's a hard decline which means you cannot retry the payment.
Decline Codes
Stolen card decline code: meaning, stats, and how to fix?
Stolen cards are an unusual payment error returned by banks. This occurs when fraudsters test the validity of stolen cards on your site. It’s a hard decline, meaning you cannot retry the payment.
Decline Codes
Call issuer decline code: meaning, stats, and how to fix?
Call Issuer refers to when transactions are refused by banks or financial institutions. The ask is to call the issuer. It's a soft decline.
Decline Codes
Stripe generic decline code: meaning, stats, and how to fix?
Generic Decline refers to when transactions are refused by banks or financial institutions. You can let the customer know and make it easy for them to enter a new card. It's a soft decline which means you can retry within certain limits.
Decline Codes
Stripe authentication required: meaning and how to fix?
The authentication_required code means the transaction needs more verification, usually through 3D Secure. Proper handling of this code can lead to successful transactions and improved security.
Decline Codes
Do Not Honor decline: meaning, stats, and how to fix?
"Do Not Honor" is a catch-all decline code used when a bank rejects a transaction without providing a specific reason. See what you can do recover revenue from it.
Decline Codes
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.