A soft decline occurs when a transaction has been authorized by the customer's card issuing bank but rejected by CyberSource due to a business rule setting. The authorization completed successfully, placing a hold on funds in the customer's account, and settlement has not yet occurred. You, as the merchant, may continue to process the sale by requesting settlement, or reject the sale by requesting an authorization reversal to remove the hold on funds in the customer's account.

A hard decline occurs when a customer's bank refuses to authorize the transfer of funds as a result of possible fraud, insufficient available credit, lost or stolen card, etc. Unlike a soft decline, there is no way to proceed other than requesting a different form of payment.

 

Examples of soft declines

Reason Code	Reply Flag (rflag)	Status (REST API)	Reason (REST API)	REST: Message (SCMP: r_message)	Explanation
200	DAVSNO	AUTHORIZED_PENDING_REVIEW	AVS_FAILED	Soft Decline - The authorization request was approved by the issuing bank but declined by CyberSource because it did not pass the Address Verification Service (AVS) check.	The authorization request did not pass the Address Verification Service (AVS) check.
230	DCV	AUTHORIZED_PENDING_REVIEW	CV_FAILED	Soft Decline - The authorization request was approved by the issuing bank but declined by CyberSource because it did not pass the card verification number (CVN) check.	The authorization request did not pass the Card Verification Number (CVN), also referred to as Card Verification Value (CVV), check.

 

Examples of hard declines

Reason Code	Reply Flag (rflag)	Status (REST API)	Reason (REST API)	REST: Message (SCMP: r_message)	Explanation
203	DCARDREFUSED	DECLINED	PROCESSOR_DECLINED	Decline - General decline of the card. No other information provided by the issuing bank.	Request a different card or other form of payment.
204	DCARDREFUSED	DECLINED	INSUFFICIENT_FUND	Decline - Insufficient funds in the account.	Request a different card or other form of payment.
205	DCARDREFUSED	DECLINED	STOLEN_LOST_CARD	Decline - Stolen or lost card.	Refer the transaction to your customer support center for manual review.

 

In the specific industry context of merchants who process recurring transactions, the term soft decline may also refer to an issuing bank decline resulting from a temporary condition such as NSF (non-sufficient funds). In these cases, the transaction(s) may be resubmitted once the temporary condition is resolved.  

 

Additional Information

What does this Reason Code mean?
I'm receiving reason code 200
I'm receiving reason code 230
I'm receiving reason code 203