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Refusal reasons

Learn about the reasons why a payment authorisation can be refused.

Test refusal reasons

You can trigger these refusal reasons in our test environment by their refusalReasonCode values.

When your payment authorisation request is not successful, the response returns HTTP status code 200/OK and includes a resultCode set to either Refused, Error, or Cancelled.

In addition, the response contains a refusalReason field with a short message explaining why a payment was refused, as well as the refusalReasonCode (in Checkout API only).

Do not expose the details of specific refusal reasons to shoppers. This is to prevent the malicious use of such details.

The possible refusalReason values are listed below.

refusalReasonCode refusalReason Description
2 Refused The transaction was refused.
3 Referral Referrals.
4 Acquirer Error The transaction did not go through due to an error that occurred on the acquirer's end.
5 Blocked Card The card used for the transaction is blocked, therefore unusable.
6 Expired Card The card used for the transaction has expired. Therefore it is unusable.
7 Invalid Amount An amount mismatch occurred during the transaction process.
8 Invalid Card Number The specified card number is incorrect or invalid.
9 Issuer Unavailable It is not possible to contact the shopper's bank to authorise the transaction.
10 Not supported The shopper's bank does not support or does not allow this type of transaction.
11 3D Not Authenticated 3D Secure authentication was not executed, or it did not execute successfully.
12 Not enough balance The card does not have enough money to cover the payable amount.
14 Acquirer Fraud Possible fraud.
15 Cancelled The transaction was cancelled.
16 Shopper Cancelled The shopper cancelled the transaction before completing it.
17 Invalid Pin The specified PIN is incorrect or invalid.
18 Pin tries exceeded The shopper specified an incorrect PIN more that three times in a row.
19 Pin validation not possible It is not possible to validate the specified PIN number.
20 FRAUD The pre-authorisation risk checks resulted in a fraud score of 100 or more. Therefore, the transaction was flagged as fraudulent, and was refused.
21 Not Submitted The transaction was not submitted correctly for processing.
22 FRAUD-CANCELLED The sum of pre-authorisation and post-authorisation risk checks resulted in a fraud score of 100 or more. Therefore, the transaction was flagged as fraudulent, and was refused.
23 Transaction Not Permitted

The following declined codes are mapped to this refusal reason:

  • "57: Transaction not permitted to issuer/cardholder"
  • "57: Transaction not allowed for this merchant"
  • "58: Transaction not permitted to acquirer/terminal"
24 CVC Declined The specified CVC (card security code) is invalid.
25 Restricted Card

The following decline codes are mapped to this refusal reason:

  • "62: Restricted Card"
  • "62: Invalid card in this country"
26 Revocation Of Auth

Indicates that the shopper requested to stop a subscription.

Decline codes such as the following are mapped to this refusal reason:

  • "R1: Revocation of Authorization Order"
  • "R3: Revocation of All Authorizations Order"
  • "R0: Stop Payment Order"
27 Declined Non Generic This response maps all those response codes that cannot be reliably mapped. This makes it easier to tell generic declines (for example, Mastercard "05: Do not honor" response) from more specific ones.
28 Withdrawal amount exceeded The withdrawal amount permitted for the shopper's card has exceeded.
29 Withdrawal count exceeded The number of withdrawals permitted for the shopper's card has exceeded.
31 Issuer Suspected Fraud Issuer reported the transaction as suspected fraud.
32 AVS Declined The address data the shopper entered is incorrect.
33 Card requires online pin The shopper's bank requires the shopper to enter an online PIN.
34 No checking account available on Card The shopper's bank requires a checking account to complete the purchase.
35 No savings account available on Card The shopper's bank requires a savings account to complete the purchase.
36 Mobile pin required The shopper's bank requires the shopper to enter a mobile PIN.
37 Contactless fallback The shopper abandoned the transaction after they attempted a contactless payment and were prompted to try a different card entry method (PIN or swipe).
38 Authentication required The issuer declined the authentication exemption request and requires authentication for the transaction. Retry with 3D Secure.
39 RReq not received from DS The issuer or the scheme wasn't able to communicate the outcome via RReq.
40 Current AID is in Penalty Box. The payment network cannot be reached. Retry the transaction with a different payment method.
41 CVM Required Restart Payment A PIN or signature is required. Retry the transaction.
42 3DS Authentication Error The 3D Secure authentication failed due to an issue at the card network or issuer. Retry the transaction, or retry the transaction with a different payment method.
46 Transaction blocked by Adyen to prevent excessive retry fees Adyen's excessive retry prevention service blocked the transaction to make sure that you are not charged penalty fees.

See also