Why was my guests card declined?

Payments can fail for a variety of reasons and it’s frustrating whenever they represent a loss of legitimate business. Certain failures are actually preventative measures-working ot minimize the possibility of a fraudulent payment that otherwise may have resulted in a dispute.

There are three possible reasons why a payment might fail, and there is a different way of handling each failure. The reason for a payments failure is provided within the payments details in the Dashboard of Stripe and through the API as part of the Charge object’s outcome. This parameter includes the type of payment failure, along with additional information about the reason for it.

When a charge is submitted to the issuer of your guest’s card, they have automated systems that determine whether or not to authorize it. These systems take various signals into account, such as your guests spending habits, account balance, and card information like the expiration date and CVC.

If your guest’s card issuer declines a payment, Stripe shares with you as much information explaining the decline as we receive, both within the Dashboard of Stripe and through the API. In some cases, card issuers also provide helpful explanations, such as the card number or expiration date being incorrect, or that the guest does not have enough funds available to make the payment. The card issuer may provide one of these more specific reasons to Stripe through the use of a decline code.

To view the list of decline codes click here.

Unfortunately, most declines are categorized as “generic” so it’s not always possible to know exactly why a payment was declined. If all of the card information seems correct, it is best to have your guest contact their issuer and ask for more information. For privacy and security, card issuers can only discuss specifics of a declined payment with their cardholders-they cannot discuss this with the merchant.