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MasterCard Decline Reason Code Service

Best practices and reccommendations for dealing with MasterCard declines

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MasterCard introduced a new Decline Reason Code Service for Card Not Present (CNP) payments in 2021. This was renamed to the MasterCard Authorisation Optimiser in August 2022.

The Service provides enhanced information about transaction declines while mandating some changes to Issuer usage of the standard [05 – Do Not Honor] responses. Moto and Card Present (CP) payments are out of scope.

It is important for merchants to assess these changes, particularly with respect to guidance regarding retries, and to also know exactly how to receive the enhanced data in responses from PXP Financial.

Merchant Benefits

The new service will provide more meaningful decline information to merchants and also provide guidance to optimise authorisation retry strategies. This could lead to higher sales and reduced costs involving unsuccessful authorisation attempts.

Required Action by Merchants (Mastercard mandate)

Specifically as part of the Decline Reason Code Service, merchant has to prepare to receive the field MerchantAdviceCode in responses from PXP and in combination with the value provided in the field ProviderResponseCode, modify the logic for re-trying authorisations as per the table below:

Provider Response CodeMerchant Advice CodeMerchant Advice DescriptionMerchant Action
79 or 8201Updated information neededUpdated information found to be available in Mastercard ABU database* – secure new information before reattempting
79 or 8203Do not try againUpdated credentials were not found to be available in Mastercard ABU database* – do not retry
8301Additional information neededEnsure card information is correct.

Authentication may improve likelihood of an approval – retry using authentication (such as EMV 3DS)
8303Do not try againSuspected Fraud – do not retry
79 or 82 or 8302Try again laterRetry transaction later

*ABU - Might be due to the card being expired or reissued. In such cases, please ask customer to review and update card information.

A full list of MAC Codes is available at the end of this document.

🚧

Use of Original ISO Response is strongly recommended

While the text above highlights the use of the ProviderResponseCode field together with the MerchantAdviceCode field, merchants are strongly recommended to rather configure and use the OriginalISOResponseCode field in initiatePaymentResponse in conjunction with MerchantAdviceCode.

This will ensure they have the most accurate information in order to query and categorise all types of declines.

❗️

“Do not try again”

When Mastercard returns a Decline Reason Code with a “Do not try again” value, merchants must not retry such payments (for the same card, transaction and amount for a merchant within a 30 day period of the original decline).

PXP will charge fees for re-tried transactions that were previously declined authorisations with MerchantAdviceCode "Do not try again” as imposed by MasterCard.

Example initiatePayment request and response:

<initiatePaymentRequest xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://www.cqrpayments.com/PaymentProcessing">
    <merchantID>PSD2_TestMerchant_1</merchantID>
        <shopID>PSD2_TestShop_1</shopID>
    <merchantTransactionID>TestReceivingMAC04</merchantTransactionID>
    <paymentMethodID>1</paymentMethodID>
    <amount currencyCode="EUR">30</amount>
    <userID>f9651638-2f0f-4f54-ab3f-8513ea897876</userID>
    <userData>
        <username>f9651638-2f0f-4f54-ab3f-8513ea897876</username>
        <firstname xsi:nil="true" />
        <lastname xsi:nil="true" />
        <currencyCode xsi:nil="true" />
        <languageCode xsi:nil="true" />
        <email xsi:nil="true" />
        <address xsi:nil="true" />
        <identificationNumberType xsi:nil="true" />
        <drivingLicenseNumber xsi:nil="true" />
        <drivingLicenseIssuingState xsi:nil="true" />
    </userData>
    <userIP>127.0.0.1</userIP>
    <userSessionID>dc138506-2d2b-4d90-9cbb-92cf0879bd76</userSessionID>
    <creationTypeID>1</creationTypeID>
    <specificPaymentData>
        <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>PaymentDescription</key>
            <value>dd86a2f5-e53e-4a09-ab0e-1d9de6089742</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>PaymentDescriptionLanguageCode</key>
            <value>en</value>
        </data>
        
        <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>BrowserVerificationNotificationURL</key>
            <value>https://www.notification.com</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>BrowserLanguage</key>
            <value>en</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyIntValuePair">
            <key>BrowserScreenHeight</key>
            <value>768</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyIntValuePair">
            <key>BrowserScreenWidth</key>
            <value>1024</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>BrowserHeaderAccept</key>
            <value>BrowserHeaderAccept</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>BrowserHeaderUserAgent</key>
            <value>BrowserHeaderUserAgent</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>UserVerificationNotificationURL</key>
            <value>https://api.test.kalixa.com/WebMockProviders/threedsv2acs/showCRes</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyIntValuePair">
            <key>BrowserScreenColorDepth</key>
            <value>32</value>
        </data>
          <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
            <key>BrowserTimeZone</key>
            <value>60</value>
        </data>
         <data xsi:type="keyBooleanValuePair">
            <key>BrowserJavaEnabled</key>
            <value>true</value>
        </data>
        <data xsi:type="keyBooleanValuePair">
            <key>BrowserJavaScriptEnabled</key>
            <value>true</value>
        </data>  
    </specificPaymentData>
    <paymentAccount>
        <specificPaymentAccountData>
            <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                <key>CardNumber</key>
                <value>5127745333482708</value>
            </data>
            <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                <key>HolderName</key>
                <value>Gergana Dimova</value>
            </data>
            <data xsi:type="keyIntValuePair">
                <key>ExpiryMonth</key>
                <value>12</value>
            </data>
            <data xsi:type="keyIntValuePair">
                <key>ExpiryYear</key>
                <value>2030</value>
            </data>
            <data xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                <key>CardVerificationCode</key>
                <value>111</value>
            </data>
        </specificPaymentAccountData>
    </paymentAccount>
</initiatePaymentRequest>

<initiatePaymentResponse xmlns="http://www.cqrpayments.com/PaymentProcessing" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <payment xsi:type="paymentWithPaymentAccount">
        <merchantID>PSD2_TestMerchant_1</merchantID>
        <shopID>PSD2_TestShop_1</shopID>
        <paymentMethod>
            <key>1</key>
            <value>ECMC Deposit</value>
        </paymentMethod>
        <merchantTransactionID>TestReceivingMAC04</merchantTransactionID>
        <paymentID>142b92ae-c73c-489e-8fe4-48f536ad384b</paymentID>
        <userID>f9651638-2f0f-4f54-ab3f-8513ea897876</userID>
        <paymentProvider>
            <key>92</key>
            <value>CQRUK</value>
        </paymentProvider>
        <amount currencyCode="EUR">30</amount>
        <creationType>
            <key>1</key>
            <value>User</value>
        </creationType>
        <userIP>127.0.0.1</userIP>
        <state>
            <id>b044ebbe-fa8b-4c57-a22a-b131dd62df84</id>
            <definition>
                <key>13</key>
                <value>AuthorisedByProvider</value>
            </definition>
            <createdOn>2021-10-14T11:42:19.0949769Z</createdOn>
            <description>Approved or completed successfully</description>
            <paymentStateDetails>
                <detail xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                    <key>ProviderResponseCode</key>
                    <value>0</value>
                </detail>
                <detail xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                    <key>ApprovalCode</key>
                    <value>998793</value>
                </detail>
            </paymentStateDetails>
        </state>
        <isExecuted>true</isExecuted>
        <baseAmount currencyCode="EUR">30</baseAmount>
        <paymentDetails>
            <detail xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                <key>ElectronicCommerceIndicator</key>
                <value>07</value>
            </detail>
            <detail xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                <key>MerchantAdviceCode</key>
                <value>03</value>
            </detail>
            <detail xsi:type="keyStringValuePair">
                <key>SchemeTransactionIdentifier</key>
                <value>MEC7VRE10KAE</value>
            </detail>
        </paymentDetails>
        <paymentAccount>
            <paymentAccountID>541aebe3-2772-4db5-a60a-39b2b58690a9</paymentAccountID>
        </paymentAccount>
    </payment>
</initiatePaymentResponse>

Test cases

Merchant can simulate receiving a combination of Provider Response Code and Merchant Advice Code by using the amount field as <ProviderResponseCode>.<MerchantAdviceCode> with the test card number 5101080000040039 in the initiatePayment request.

The payment will be RefusedByProvider.

Allowed combinations for testing:

  • 79.01, 79.02, 79.03, 79.04, 79.21
  • 82.01 ... 82.21
  • 83.01 ... 83.21

Examples:

AmountReturned Provider Response CodeReturned Merchant Advice Code
79.017901
82.038203
83.218321

If a merchant wants to receive a successful response (Provider Response Code = 00 and payment state "AuthorisedByProvider"), then the below card numbers should be used, the amount field is not considered.

📘

Combination of Provider Response Code = 00 and Merchant Advice Code

The only relevant real-world combination of Provider Response Code 00 is with Merchant Advice Code 01. All other combinations are not applicable as they will only be used for refused payments.

MerchantAdviceCodeCardNumber to be used
015101080000000033
025116097131686079
035127745333482708
045101080000000025
215101080000000041

Further guidance on MasterCard declines

In addition to the above, there is some further guidance provided by MasterCard on the topic of declines related to Merchant Advice Codes.

The most common Provider Response codes that Issuers send Merchant Advice Codes for are as follows:
• 05 – Do not honor
• 14 – Invalid card number
• 30 – Format error
• 51 – Insufficient funds/over credit limit
• 54 – Expired card

The below table shows some examples as to how these Provider Response Codes and Merchant Advice Codes should be used in conjunction with one another.

📘

More combinations possible

The below table shows only a snapshot of possible combinations of response and decline codes. Other combinations are possible

Most important combinations and how to use them:

Provider Response CodeMerchant Advice CodeMerchant Advice DescriptionMerchant Action
00
05
14
51
54		01New account information availableObtain new account information before next billing cycle
5102Cannot approve at this timeRecycle transaction 72 hours later
5124Retry after 1 hourRecycle transaction 1 hour later
5125Retry after 24 hoursRecycle transaction 24 hours later
5126Retry after 2 daysRecycle transaction 2 days later
5127Retry after 4 daysRecycle transaction 4 days later
5128Retry after 6 daysRecycle transaction 6 days later
5129Retry after 8 daysRecycle transaction 8 days later
5130Retry after 10 daysRecycle transaction 10 days later
05
14
15
54		03Do not try againObtain another type of payment from customer
3904POS cardholder presence indicatorResubmit with appropriate information
0521Payment CancellationDo not submit

📘

Reminder: Use of the Original ISO Response field is highly recommended

List of MAC Codes

Please note, MAC codes are not only related to declines. They can also be provided with approved transactions and communicate further information about a payment instrument. PXP advises all merchants to ensure they are set up to receive the MAC and act accordingly.

ValueDescription
01New account information available
02Cannot approve at this time, try again later
03Do not try again
04Token requirements not fulfilled for this token type
05Negotiated value not approved
21Payment Cancellation (Mastercard use only)
22Merchant does not qualify for product code
24Retry after 1 hour (Mastercard use only)
25Retry after 24 hours (Mastercard use only)
26Retry after 2 days (Mastercard use only)
27Retry after 4 days (Mastercard use only)
28Retry after 6 days (Mastercard use only)
29Retry after 8 days (Mastercard use only)
30Retry after 10 days (Mastercard use only)
40Consumer non-reloadable prepaid card
41Consumer single-use virtual card number
42Sanctions Scoring Service: Score Exceeds Applicable Threshold Value

📘

For MAC Codes 40 and 41, merchants should not place such accounts on file for future use.

Updated 7 months ago