Guidesgeneric_decline tells you almost nothing. This cheat sheet translates the decline codes you'll actually see into plain English, with a clear call on when to retry and when to ask for a new card.
Written and reviewed by the product team that builds ChargeBell's Stripe and Slack integrations. About our editorial process.
When a payment fails, Stripe gives you a decline code. Some codes mean the money simply wasn't there today and a retry on Friday will probably work. Others mean the card is gone for good and every retry just burns goodwill with the card networks. Knowing which is which is the difference between quietly recovering a subscription and losing a customer who never even knew their payment failed. This is the cheat sheet we wish the Stripe dashboard showed inline.
The one rule to remember
Declines come in two flavors. Soft declines are temporary (not enough money, bank hiccup, velocity limit) and are worth retrying in a few days. Hard declines are permanent (lost card, stolen card, closed account) and should never be retried: ask for a new payment method instead.
Stripe documents dozens of decline codes, but a handful cover the vast majority of real failures. Here is what each one means, in the language you'd use to explain it to a customer.
| Code | What it really means | Retry? |
|---|---|---|
| generic_decline | The bank said no and didn't say why. Often fraud rules on the bank's side. | Once. If it fails again, ask for another card. |
| insufficient_funds | The money isn't there right now. | Yes. Retry in 3 to 5 days, ideally just after the 1st or 15th. |
| do_not_honor | The bank declined without a reason. The customer usually has to call their bank. | Once, later. Then ask the customer to contact their bank. |
| expired_card | The card's expiry date has passed. | No. Ask for the new expiry or a new card. |
| incorrect_cvc | The security code didn't match. Usually a typo. | Yes, but only when the customer re-enters the card. |
| incorrect_number | The card number itself is wrong. | Yes, once the customer re-enters it. |
| lost_card / stolen_card | The card was reported lost or stolen. This is a hard decline. | Never. Request a new payment method. |
| fraudulent | The bank or Stripe flagged the charge as likely fraud. | Never. Retrying can hurt your standing with card networks. |
| authentication_required | The bank wants 3D Secure verification from the customer. | Yes, through a flow that lets the customer authenticate. |
| card_velocity_exceeded | The customer hit their card's spending or attempt limit. | Yes. Wait a day or two. |
| processing_error | Something glitched between Stripe and the bank. | Yes. Often works on the next attempt. |
| call_issuer / pickup_card | The bank suspects a problem and wants to talk to the cardholder. | No. The customer must call their bank. |
Stop retrying and switch to asking for a new payment method. Stripe's hosted customer portal and payment-update emails handle this well. The mistake to avoid is silence: most customers whose card was replaced after fraud have no idea your subscription was on the old one. They didn't cancel, and they'll be annoyed to discover their account lapsed. Treat a hard decline as a customer-service moment, not a billing event.
None of this helps if you find out about failed payments a week later while reconciling. A failed charge alert in Slack, with the decline code and the customer's name attached, turns this cheat sheet into a two-minute fix: see the alert, check the code, send the right email. That's exactly what ChargeBell does, and failed-payment alerts are included on the free plan.
ChargeBell posts every failed charge to Slack in plain English, decline reason included. Free for up to 100 alerts a month, no card required.
The customer's bank refused the charge without giving a reason. In practice it's often the bank's own fraud rules. Retry once; if it fails again, ask the customer for a different card or have them call their bank.
Yes. It's the classic soft decline. Retry in 3 to 5 days, ideally just after the 1st or 15th of the month when paychecks land. Cap it at two or three attempts.
lost_card, stolen_card, fraudulent, pickup_card, and expired_card. These are hard declines: the card will not work again, and repeated retries can damage your reputation with card networks. Ask for a new payment method instead.
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