Stripe · Decline codes
What does the Stripe issuer_not_available decline code mean?
Checked
The Stripe decline code issuer_not_available means the bank that issued the card could not be reached, so the payment was never authorized. It is not a judgement on the shopper or the card. Stripe's advice is to attempt the payment again; only if it keeps failing should the customer contact their card issuer. Most of these clear within minutes to a few days.
- Type
- Soft decline (temporary)
- Who declined
- No one: the card's bank did not answer
- Retry
- Yes, a little later
- Shopper action
- Try again; if it keeps failing, call the bank or use another card
- Merchant action
- Let the shopper retry; don't treat it as fraud
- PlatformDTC renewal
- Retried 2, 5 and 8 days after the first decline (Smart retry)
What PlatformDTC does
At checkout PlatformDTC treats issuer_not_available as a decline another processor may approve: if the store has PayPal card payments set as its backup, the shopper is offered to run the card through PayPal. With Smart retry on, a renewal declined this way is retried 2, 5 and 8 days after the first decline, at most 4 attempts, and the customer email says their bank couldn't be reached.
Why it happens
Every card payment has to be approved by the bank that issued the card. When that bank's systems are down, overloaded or slow to answer, the request times out and Stripe returns issuer_not_available.
Nothing is wrong with the card details or the shopper's balance. The bank simply never gave an answer.
What the shopper can do
Wait a moment and pay again. If the second try fails too, use a different card or payment method, or call the number on the back of the card to ask whether the bank is having problems.
What the store can do
Keep the checkout open and invite a second try. A wallet or another card usually goes through straight away.
For subscriptions, a short retry schedule recovers these well; there is no reason to ask the customer for a new card on the first failure.
For developers
The decline arrives as last_payment_error.decline_code = issuer_not_available. Check charge.outcome.network_decline_code for the raw issuer answer: on Visa, 91 means the issuer or switch is inoperative, a Category 2 code that Visa lets merchants reattempt up to 20 times in 30 days.
Stripe recommends no more than eight retries for a charge that permits retries.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I retry an issuer_not_available decline?
- Yes. Stripe's guidance is to attempt the payment again, and this code usually clears once the bank is reachable. Space retries out rather than firing them back to back.
- Is issuer_not_available the shopper's fault?
- No. It means the card's bank did not respond. The card and balance may be perfectly fine.
- How many times can I retry?
- Visa allows up to 20 reattempts in 30 days for its retryable categories, and Stripe recommends a maximum of eight retries for charges that permit them. PlatformDTC's Smart retry uses at most four attempts for this kind of decline.
Sources
- Stripe decline codes — Stripe
- Network decline codes — Stripe
- Card declines — Stripe
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules (24 October 2026), Table 7-2 — Visa
Related
- processing_error — An error occurred while processing the card. Usually temporary.
- reenter_transaction — The bank couldn't process the payment for an unknown reason; try it again.
- try_again_later — Deprecated code: the bank declined for an unknown reason; try again later.
- generic_decline — Declined for an unknown reason, or blocked by Stripe Radar or Adaptive Acceptance.
- lost_card — The card has been reported lost. It can't be used; the shopper needs another card.
- merchant_blacklist — The payment matched an entry on the store's own Stripe block list.
- new_account_information_available — The card or its account is invalid; the bank may hold newer details for it.
- no_action_taken — The card was declined for a reason the bank did not share.