What is a Decline Code 05?

If you tried to process a customer’s credit card and receive a credit card decline code 05, you may not know what that means. When accepting credit cards as a form of payment, at some point you will come across a situation where the transaction is declined. As a merchant, you should understand what credit card decline code 05 means and why you see it on your terminal screen. You should also understand why payments get declined and how to respond with alternative options.

Possible Reasons You’re Receiving Decline Code 05

Credit card decline code 05 is a message you receive from the customer’s credit card issuing bank. Decline code 05 means “Do not honor” the purchase. It is one of the most common and general decline messages for transactions that the issuing bank has blocked. Although it accounts for the most reasons that payment can’t be processed, it is also one of the vaguest reasons.

One of the common reasons that you received a credit card declined code 05 is that there are actually insufficient funds. The decline code 05’s “Do not honor” is often interchangeable with “Insufficient funds,” which is decline code 51.

Another reason that you might be receiving declined 05 is that there’s a credentials mismatch. When used appropriately, it would appear during transactions because of suspicious activity on the card.

Even if the credit card hasn’t been reported lost or stolen, there could be other reasons for the issuing bank to act cautiously. For example, if the transaction is with a foreign-based merchant, it could trigger the bank to seek additional authentication methods.

What is a Decline Code?

If you try to process a payment and it’s declined, the credit card processing machine will generate a credit card decline code. Your payment processor has most likely given you a list of these decline codes and descriptions. It’s important to keep this guide in a convenient spot so it can be referenced when necessary.

This decline code is typically the actual response that the customer’s credit card issuing bank is directly returning. In these cases, your payment processor can’t do anything to override this decline code. If you received a different code, check out our comprehensive list of credit card decline codes.

How to Resolve Your Credit Card Decline Code 05

Decline code 05 is a hard decline. Typically this means that you must wait 24 hours before attempting to process the payment again.

If you want to attempt the payment earlier than that, advise the customer to contact their issuing bank to tell them what happened. If the problem is legitimate, they should be able to resolve it with the issuer and then complete the transaction. Otherwise, the customer may use a different card to complete the transaction.