When a credit card payment is declined, it won't post as a payment under the customer's profile. The attempted payment can still be viewed on the Payments report, along with the reason given by the customer's bank.

Declined attempts show up on the Payments report even though they never posted to the customer's profile. 🔗 See Payments Report for more information.

Card issuers decline payments for a lot of different specific reasons, but they generally fall into three groups, and each one calls for a different response.

Try again later.
Some declines are temporary and may succeed on a later attempt, such as insufficient funds or a generic decline where the issuer doesn't give a specific reason.

Correct or update the card information.
Some declines happen because of a problem with the card details entered, like an expired card, an incorrect card number, or an incorrect CVC. Re-entering the correct information usually resolves these.

Use another payment method, or contact the issuer.
Some declines mean the same card shouldn't simply be retried, for example if the card has been reported lost or stolen, the account is closed, or the issuer suspects fraud. In these cases, the customer needs to use a different card or resolve the issue directly with their card issuer first.

Card issuers only share the specific reason for a decline with the cardholder directly, so if a payment keeps failing, the customer may need to contact their card issuer to find out why.