Payment Error Messages
Declined transactions
There are many reasons why a transaction may not have processed successfully. For some failures, the card issuer may indicate the reason for the decline (security code or billing address, insufficient funds, etc.) while others only provide generic information. For the latter, the donor will need to call the card issuing company to receive additional information.
A declined transaction will have an information icon next to it in the Status column of the report summary. Hover your mouse over the icon to view the Declined reason.
Declined transactions, for any reason, did not settle and should be removed from your transaction list when balancing. To filter your report to remove Declined transactions, add a Payment Result of Approved to the custom search fields for your report.
To learn more about filtering your report using custom search fields, see "Create a custom report" in the View Transactions article.
Below are the most common error messages and the payment result you might see:
| Payment Result Error message | Reason For Error | Remedy |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid Data | Incorrect billing zip code or security code entered | Donor must verify the billing zip code with the issuing card company and verify the security code and retry payment. |
| Generic Authorization Decline | This can happen for many reasons; incorrect card number or expiration date, suspicious activity or suspected fraud by the card issuer, card limit issues, etc. | Donor must call the card issuer to determine the reason for the declined status. |
| Insufficient Funds | Credit or debit card spending limit reached. | Donor must remedy with the card issuer before trying again. |
| Expired Card | Invalid Card Expiration Date | Donor must verify the credit or debit card expiration date and retry payment. |
| Invalid Account Number | Invalid Card Number | Donor must verify the credit or debit card number and retry payment. |
| Restricted Card | This is a security error, usually due to suspicious activity on the card resulting in a block. | Donor must remedy with the card issuer before trying again. |
| Pick Up Card | This is a security error, usually due to suspicious activity on the card that has resulted in the account being closed. | Donor must remedy with the card issuer before trying again. |
| Processor Error | This error occurs due to server, gateway, or internet interruption and is usually very temporary. | Donor can retry payment. |
Contacting donors of declined one time transactions
When you see a declined transaction, it is good practice to contact that donor to invite them to retry the donation or to offer your assistance. Donors will not receive an email from GiveDirect when a one time transaction is declined.
Contacting donors of declined recurring transactions
GiveDirect does send an email to recurring donors when a recurring payment declines with instructions to correct the issue. However, donors are more likely to respond to a direct request from you. Therefore, we still encourage you to reach out directly to the donor.
