Payments
Hard decline
Updated
A hard decline is a card refusal about the card itself, such as a lost, stolen or closed account, so no retry on that card can ever be approved.
A hard decline tells you the card number will never work again: it was reported lost or stolen, the account is closed, the number does not exist, or the cardholder told the bank to stop payments. Retrying changes none of that.
Visa calls these category 1 codes, "issuer will never approve". They include 04 (pick up card), 07 (pick up card, fraud account), 12 (invalid transaction), 14 (invalid account number), 15 (no such issuer), 41 (lost card), 43 (stolen card), 46 (closed account), 57 (transaction not permitted) and R0, R1 and R3 (stop payment orders). After a category 1 response, Visa's rules say the merchant must never resubmit for the same card.
The only useful next step is a new payment method. On PlatformDTC, a renewal that gets a hard decline is not retried; the subscription is held past due and the customer is emailed a one-click link to update their card.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between a hard and a soft decline?
- A soft decline is about this attempt, such as low funds or a bank outage, and a later retry can work. A hard decline is about the card, such as a closed or stolen account, and no retry can ever work.
- Can I retry a hard decline?
- No. Visa's rules forbid resubmitting a category 1 decline for the same card, and every attempt is a guaranteed failure that can draw network fees. Ask the customer for another card instead.