All transactions are authorized by the card issuing bank. The Eleyo system receives any messages related to transactions directly from the issuing bank including an approval or a decline.
Common Decline Messages
- Do Not Honor. That is a straight decline from the issuer (no other details provided)
- Transaction Not Allowed or Restricted Card is also a decline usually with a corporate or business card. It means that card does not allow certain types of transactions to be made with it.
- Invalid cardholder account means there was an error or typo in the credit card information that was saved by the cardholder. The cardholder should delete and add the saved payment method new. It is not recommended to modify or edit the existing saved payment method, but rather completely delete and re-enter the full card information.
- Transaction Method Processing Error: Gateway temporarily offline. Please try again shortly. This is also a decline.
- Pick Up Card. This decline refers to a time when vendors were instructed to pick up (and possibly cut up) the physical card.
- Account details out of date The details in the saved payment method should be updated. For card data security, the cardholder should log into their account to update the payment details. If they scroll to Saved Payment Methods, they can delete then re-enter the saved payment method and designate it to be used for that program's autopay.
- Transaction exceeds maximum amount. Some card types (like corporate or purchasing cards) may have limits on what can be charged on a single transaction.
- Declined - Suspected Fraud - a straight decline from the issuing bank.
Declined Sales
A decline for a sale transaction can occur for a variety of reasons, even if this card has worked in the past. For card holder privacy and security, Eleyo does not have access to the details regarding why a particular sale was declined.
If a sale is declined, the card holder would need to contact their issuing bank for further clarification regarding why the attempt was not authorized, and to resolve any issues that may exist. They would want to be sure to use the number on the back of the card so they are communicating with the issuer and not a local branch.
If it is a corporate or business card, the person may need to contact the team at their company who provided them the card. In rare cases, if the decline is due to an expired card and the data on file in Eleyo is updated, the card holder would also need to verify with the issuer (something may not have been activated properly from the issuer side). Staff should not attempt the sale again until the card holder has verified with the issuing bank that the reason for the initial decline has been resolved or use a different payment method.
Issuing Refunds
Refunds can only be issued back to the original payment method or by paper check. In many cases, the issuing bank will accept a refund even if the account has changed. It is then up to the issuing bank to get those funds to the consumer. If the refund was successfully issued within the Eleyo system, the person would need to contact the issuer to verify when and how the funds will be provided to them. Even if the account is closed, the issuing bank can choose to issue the refund using a different method (i.e. mail a check to the consumer).
Declined Refunds
Recently, banks have also started to reflect declines related to refunds when it is no longer a valid card to refund to (i.e. for a closed, compromised or blocked account, etc). Along with a decline message like Transaction Declined or Do Not Honor (shown below), in some cases, the system will show Error Executing Transaction (140) or Card Number Error (381). That also indicates a decline from the bank related to the refund. If a person has used a gift card or pre-paid card branded with a credit card logo (Visa, MasterCard, Amex), the message may be Account Not Found. This is also a decline.
If a refund is declined immediately when attempted in Eleyo, staff would need to issue the refund using a paper check instead. Due to credit card processing regulations, there is not an option to refund to a different card number (there has to be a settled sale to offset any potential refund). The message that a refund has been declined is only reflected on the screen (it is not captured in the system). A staff note on the paper check refund can clarify why the refund was not issued back to the original payment method.
Rejected Refunds
There is no guarantee that when a refund shows as settled in Eleyo that it won't be rejected at a later date. If a refund is rejected, it can be indicated as a Chargeback or as Returned Refund in Eleyo. The staff at your program who normally receive chargeback/return notices will get an email and the chargeback will be displayed on the system Dashboard under the Operations section. It can take several business days (at minimum) for any notification of a reject to be received and processed.
There are also reasons why a refund may show as settled in Eleyo, but is not rejected even to an account that the consumer feels is no longer active. For example, if there were overdrafts or fees owed, the bank can claim funds and not provide them back to the customer. There may also be other other issues related to an account that need to be resolved and can hold up a refund being released to the customer.