Stripe “Your card was declined”: Why It Happens and How to Fix It

Many online services take card payments through Stripe, so “Your card was declined” at checkout is one of the most common payment errors. The decline can come from the card issuer, or from the merchant’s Stripe fraud rules before the issuer ever sees the payment, and the checkout rarely says which. Here is how to find the real cause, using Stripe’s own documentation and what we see in our card data.

Messages you may see

“Your card was declined”
“Your card’s security code is incorrect”
“Your card was declined. This transaction requires authentication.”

First, find out who declined it

Stripe’s documentation lists three reasons a payment can fail: the card issuer declines it, Stripe blocks it (for example with its Radar fraud rules), or the merchant’s request to Stripe is invalid. When Stripe blocks a payment, it does not ask the card issuer at all.

What you find	What it means	What to do
A declined attempt in the card’s transaction list, with a reason	The card side declined it, and the reason is right there	Fix that cause (see our card data below), then retry once
No record at all on the card	The payment never reached the card: a mistyped card number, or the merchant’s Stripe rules blocked it	Re-check the card number; if it is right, contact the merchant or pay with a card on another range or network
A 3D Secure prompt, or “This transaction requires authentication”	The issuer asked for extra verification	Complete the verification, then retry

What Stripe’s decline codes mean

Behind the short message, the merchant’s Stripe account receives a decline code. You usually do not see it, but the merchant’s support can look it up. These are the codes you are most likely to meet, with Stripe’s own descriptions:

Decline code	Stripe’s description	What to check on your card
generic_decline	“The card was declined for an unknown reason or Stripe Radar or Adaptive Acceptance blocked the payment.”	The card’s transaction list: a record with a reason, or no record at all
insufficient_funds	“The card has insufficient funds to complete the purchase.”	The card balance, with headroom for tax and currency conversion
card_velocity_exceeded	“The customer has exceeded the balance, credit limit, or transaction amount limit available on their card.”	The card balance and limit
incorrect_cvc, expired_card, incorrect_number	A card detail did not match	Re-enter the details exactly as shown on the card detail page
card_not_supported	“The card doesn’t support this type of purchase.”	Whether the card supports this kind of merchant; try a card on another range
do_not_honor, transaction_not_allowed	“The card was declined for an unknown reason.”	An issuer rule; try a card on another range and contact support
authentication_required	The transaction requires authentication such as 3D Secure	Complete the verification when the checkout asks for it

For some codes, such as fraudulent, lost_card and stolen_card, Stripe tells merchants not to report more detailed information to the customer and to present them like generic_decline. Stripe also notes that card issuers classify most declines as generic and discuss the specifics only with their cardholders. That is why so many checkouts just say “Your card was declined”.

What our card data shows

We cannot see which payment processor a merchant uses, so these figures cover every merchant where our cards were used over the last 90 days (2026-08-07 to 11-04), counted per person. About 46% of people had at least one payment declined, and about 62% of them paid successfully within 7 days of their first decline. These are the causes they ran into (one person can hit more than one):

Decline cause	Share of declined people	What to do
Card balance or limit below the charge	about 81%	Top up the card before the charge, with headroom for tax and currency conversion
Card details mistyped (number, expiry, CVC)	about 23%	Paste the details with the copy buttons on the card detail page; mind the month / year order
The card does not support the merchant’s category (for example games, digital content or streaming)	about 16%	Use a card on a range that supports this kind of merchant
Card status (frozen, not activated or closed)	about 11%	Check the status on the card detail page and pay with a card in good standing
Issuer risk rules, or a merchant the issuer does not allow for this card	about 8%	Try a card on another BIN range or network, and contact support
Unknown or temporary upstream error	about 8%	Wait a while and retry once; contact support if it happens again
The merchant does not accept the card’s country	about 1%	Try a card issued in another country

How to fix it

Open the card’s transaction list. A declined attempt usually shows the reason; if there is no record at all, the attempt never reached the card
If the balance or limit was short, top up the card and leave headroom for tax and currency conversion
Re-enter the card number, expiry, CVC, cardholder name and billing address exactly as shown on the card detail page; watch out for browser autofill
If the reason is that the card does not support the merchant’s category, use a card on a range that supports this kind of merchant
If the checkout asks for 3D Secure: on cards that support it, the code appears on the card detail page, and some ranges send it to your email instead
If the details are right and nothing reached the card, the merchant’s Stripe rules may have blocked the payment. Stripe’s rules can, for example, “block payments made with prepaid cards” or allow payments only from particular countries, and only the merchant can change them: contact the merchant, or pay with a card on another range or network
Still stuck? Contact our support with the merchant name, the time, the amount and the last 4 digits of the card

Retry without making it worse

Fix the cause before you retry: trying again with nothing changed gets the same result
Stripe warns that card networks limit how many times a charge can be retried, and that “Card issuers might see creating additional retries as potential fraud”. Stop after 2 declines in a row and find the cause first
Some of our card ranges charge $0.50 or $0.60 per declined payment and others charge nothing; the card-opening page shows the fee for each range before you choose

FAQ

Why doesn’t Stripe tell me why my card was declined?

Stripe’s documentation says card issuers classify most declines as generic and discuss the specifics only with their cardholders, and it tells merchants to show some decline reasons, such as suspected fraud, as a generic decline. The merchant’s Stripe account sees a decline code, so the merchant’s support can tell you more. For one of our cards, the card’s transaction list usually shows the reason.

Do Stripe checkouts accept prepaid or virtual cards?

Stripe processes Visa and Mastercard cards, but each merchant decides what it accepts, and Stripe’s rules let a merchant block payments made with prepaid cards. In our data no decline message said that a merchant refused prepaid cards. A block by the merchant’s Stripe rules never reaches the card, though, so it leaves no record we could count: if nothing shows up on the card, ask the merchant.

My card has money on it. Why was it declined?

Check that the balance covers the whole charge, including tax and any currency conversion. In our data a balance or limit below the charge was behind about 81% of declines. If the balance was enough, look at the reason in the card’s transaction list: a mistyped detail, a merchant category the card does not support, or the card’s status are the next most common causes.

Is it safe to keep retrying a declined payment?

No. Stripe notes that card networks limit how many times a charge can be retried and that issuers might treat repeated retries as potential fraud, which can lead to more declines. Find and fix the cause first, and stop after 2 declines in a row.

What does “This transaction requires authentication” mean?

Stripe’s authentication_required code means the issuer asked for verification such as 3D Secure. Complete it when the checkout shows the prompt and retry. On our cards that support 3D Secure, the code appears on the card detail page, and some card ranges send it to your email instead.

Official sources

Need a card that works?

Prepaid Visa and Mastercard from $1 · 7×24 support