Card Declines

Declined card transactions are represented as Card Events with a status of denied. Card events in this status will contain a value in the decline_reason field which outlines the reason the transaction was declined. The example below shows a card event that was declined due to “Card Not Active.”

Example Card Decline

{
  "message_type": "auth-request",
  "card_id": "card_09876543421",
  "amount": "10.00",
  "currency": "USD",
  "status": "denied",
  "decline_reason": "Card Not Active",
  "network": "mastercard",
  "network_created_at": "2017-11-02T11:55:09Z",
  "processor": "marqeta",
  "id": "cnm_2345678901",
  "created_at": "2017-11-02T11:55:14Z",
  "updated_at": "2017-11-02T11:55:14Z",
  "merchant": {
    "name": "A VENDOR NAME",
    "mid": "0123456789",
    "mcc": "0000",
    "address": {
      "city": "EDGEWATER",
      "state": "NJ",
      "postal_code": "07020",
      "country": "USA"
    }
  }
}

Common Decline Reasons

There are a large number of reasons a card authorization might be declined by the network, the issuer, or by your application logic. Below are some of the more common card decline reasons that you may encounter:

Decline Reason	Description
Denied By Card Controls: Blocked Merchant	This merchant is blocked by the current card control configuration.
Denied By Card Controls: ATM Withdrawal Limit Reached	The ATM withdrawal limit defined by the card controls for this card have been reached.
Denied By Card Controls: Usage Limit Reached	The usage limits defined by the card controls for this card have been reached.
AVS Decline	The address information submitted for the transaction failed AVS verification.
AVS No Info	The address information submitted for the transaction failed AVS verification.
Card Auth Loop Endpoint Denied Request	This transaction was denied by a 402 response received from the Card Auth Loop Endpoint (your application logic).
Card Not Active	This card has not yet been activated.
Card Expired	This card has expired.
Card Suspended	This card is currently suspended and will need to be reactivated before it can be used.
Card Expiration Mismatch	The card expiration date provided does not match the expiration data for this card.
Fraud Decline	This transaction has been decline due to suspected fraudulent activity.
Incorrect PIN	The PINs provided does not match the PIN for this card.
Invalid CID	The CID provided does not match the CID assigned to this card.
Invalid CVV	The CVV provided does not match the CVV assigned to this card.
Issuer Timeout	The card network did not receive a response from the issuer within the specified timeframe and has declined the transaction.
Network Decline	The card network has declined this transaction.
Transaction Not Permitted	The card is not configured to support the transaction being attempted.
NSF	Non-Sufficient Funds: The user's available balance is insufficient to cover the transaction.