This article gives some more information on common transaction declined status codes and reasons, to help understand why transactions have not been successful


Some steps to understand why a payment has failed

  1. Look at the payment type (summary of payment types given below)
  2. Check the return / reason code
  3. View this article to see why the transaction may have failed


Click on the transaction and view the "summary" information, to find the return code.


Please note that these reasons may not always be 100% applicable. This is based on majority of cases seen, for the respective return code - Download the Full List of Available Return Codes (000.000.000 to 999.999.999) at the bottom of this article.


Return codes and typical explanation of failures 


CODEREASONEXPLANATIONWHAT TO TELL YOUR CUSTOMER / PAYER
800.100.152Transaction declined by authorization system
  1. Insufficient funds / limit reached
  2. Risk system of issuing bank declined transaction
  3. Risk system of acquiring bank declined transaction
  4. Other technical reasons including that the card is not enabled for online transactions

for reason 4 : Some quick checks you can do :

  • Check if card enabled for use overseas
  • Is tokenisation / Card storage allowed for card type ? The payment could be returning this code because the card is not enabled for non 3D-Secure / recurring debits (This is common for prepaid, debit cards)

Your transaction was declined for one of the following reasons:


  1. Your bank card might not be enabled for online transactions
  2. Risk systems for the merchant or customer bank, may have declined the transaction
  3. Another reason which only your bank can communicate with you

 

Please contact your bank, as further detail onthe reason for the failed transaction can only be communicated/explained to a customer by the customer's bank. This information is privy only to customer and his/her bank.


100.380.401User Authentication FailedIncorrect OTP. This return code always signifies that the bank's system was unable to authenticate the user

Your transaction failed due to the OTP details either:

 

  1. not entered in time,
  2. not entered correctly,
  3. or not entered at all


 Therefore your bank was unable to successfully authenticate you and process the transaction. 

Please try again or contact your bank.


100.396.103Previously pending transaction timed out
The registration transaction (RG) was not authenticated and timed out.
The debit references the registration token and hence this may also fail.

See explanation for 800.100.152
 
100.380.501Risk management transaction timeout


The customer probably did not enter their OTP or possibly did not get shown the 3Dsecure page because something on the customer's browser was blocking the 3DSecure page from loading:

 

  • If the card is 3D enabled, it should get an OTP during the Authentication phase of the payment. Sending out OTP is something the customers' bank 3D server handles. We can't tell if an OTP is sent out and we have no control in the 3D authentication process. It's entirely handled between the customer and their issuing bank. The customers bank also authenticate the payment if correct OTP is entered. Once completed, we then receive a successful payment response.

 

  • In other cases, if the customer is enrolled for 3D, but during payment, they are not redirected to the 3D page, it could mean there is something wrong with their banks 3D server at the time. We waited for the customers' bank to present the 3D secure page so they could authenticate, it didn't happen, then the payment timed out.

 

See here for more technical explanation.


NB - We can't know upfront if the card is enabled for 3D Secure.


  1. Possibly not entering in the OTP on time or
  2. The bank card is not enabled for online transactions or
  3. There could be an issue with the banks 3D server/transaction approval server 

Please try again if you know your bank card is activated for online transactions or contact your bank.


100.390.112Technical Error in 3D systemThis occurs when there is an error with the 3DSecure process at the bank. It could be that their 3DSecure system was down at the time.
100.100.101invalid creditcard, bank account number or bank nameSee suggested response to the right

Please note that your transaction failed due to either:

  1. Credit card number entered incorrectly and/or
  2. Bank Account Number entered incorrectly and/or
  3. Bank name entered incorrectly and/or
  4. Credit card not activated for online transactions

 

Please try again and/or contact your bank.


100.100.700invalid cc number/brand combination


If this happens it usually means that your customer is entering in all the digits found on the reverse side of their card. However they only need to enter the last few digits:

  • For Visa/Mastercard: last 3 digits
  • For AMEX/Diners: last 4 digits (if you have AMEX transactions activated - default is AMEX is NOT ACTIVATED unless specifically requested by Merchant)


Clearly specify to customers during the checkout phase how many digits they should enter in the CVV/CVC field 


Suggestion:

Add an image of what a CVV no. is if you receive this return code frequently)


Please note that your transaction failed due to either:

  1. Credit card number entered incorrectly and/or
  2. The credit card is not activated for online transactions and/or
  3. The type of credit card is not accepted

Please provide the following information for further assistance:

  1. Issuing Bank of Credit Card
  2. Country of issue of Credit card
800.100.153transaction declined (invalid CVV)

Card might not be enabled for Online Transactions or customer is using the wrong numbers/doesn’t know what a CVV number is.


We can't know exactly what the issue so see suggested answer to the right


Please note that your transaction has been declined due to either:

  1. an invalid CVV number being entered or,
  2. no CVV number entered

 

If you entered your CVV correctly and still had your transaction declined please contact your bank and inform them that you are unable to make E Commerce transactions.


800.100.169transaction declined (card type is not processed by the authorization center)See suggested response to the right.

Transaction failed due to either:

  1. The bank card is not enabled for online transactions or
  2. The bank card type is foreign registered & not VISA or Mastercard or 
  3. There could be an issue with the banks 3D server/transaction approval server  

Please try again if you know your bank card is activated for online transactions or contact your bank for further assistance.