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If your business is processing card payments several times a day, you may come across credit card decline code 04. When a credit card terminal declines a payment, it’s not always easy to figure out why. To help you understand the reasoning, terminals will often display a declined code, which gives you better insight into why the payment won’t go through. One code you may receive when a payment is declined is decline code 04.
Possible Reasons You’re Receiving Decline Code 04
The declined 04 message is a common code that you might come across when accepting credit card payments. The credit card declined code 04 means: Pick Up Card (No Fraud). When you receive declined code 04, it means the card has been reported either lost or stolen, but not flagged for fraudulent use. The cardholder should contact their issuing bank for more details. It also means you cannot return the card to the customer, and it’s your job as a merchant to collect and keep the card just in case there is fraud at play.
If you receive the decline code 04, it’s possible the payment could not go through because the cardholder initially thought they lost their card or someone stole it. They would have contacted their issuing bank to report it as such. This action freezes the card so it can no longer work for future transactions. If the cardholder already found their card, they might have forgotten to contact their issuing bank to unfreeze the card.
Possible fraud
It’s also possible the credit card was indeed stolen. Since the cardholder contacted their issuing bank, the bank cannot authorize purchases or other types of transactions on the card. This is also why you should collect the card at the point of sale.
What is a Decline Code?
When you go to process a customer’s payment, you either get an approved transaction or a declined one. This means the bank is unable to complete the transaction. There are a variety of reasons why the payment could not be accepted.
It’s likely that when you first got your terminal, your payment processor gave you a reference for all these credit card decline codes and a short description of what they mean. By interpreting decline codes, you can determine the possible reasons you might have received them and how to resolve them. For more information on this, check out our full list of credit card decline codes.
How to Resolve Your Credit Card Decline Code 04
If a customer tries to use a credit card that returns the decline code 04, there are a couple of ways to resolve this. The first is that you can advise the customer that the credit card has been reported as lost or stolen. Ask them to contact their bank to resolve the issue.
The second option is to advise the customer to use a different credit card or method of payment. Regardless of which option you choose, it is not wise to try to run the card again, as it’s highly likely to continue returning a decline code.
