Declined Transactions

Declined Transactions

If a transaction is declined, review the reason in the decline email and use the guidance below to resolve the issue.

When a transaction is declined, the cardholder receives an email with the reason for the decline.

Example of a declined transaction email showing the merchant name and decline reason.

Card Detail Errors

Declines can occur if the card details entered at checkout do not match the card information on file.

Zip Code Mismatch

The zip code entered during checkout must match the billing zip code for the card.

To find the card billing address, see What Is the Card’s Billing Address?.

1. Retry the transaction using the billing zip code for the card.
2. If you received a decline email, select It’s Good and retry the transaction. This allows future zip code mismatches for this merchant on this card.

Incorrect Billing Address

If the zip code matches and the transaction still declines, the merchant may be submitting incorrect address information to the card processor.

Select It’s Good in the decline email and retry the transaction. This bypasses the zip code check for that merchant on this card.

Incorrect Cardholder Name

The cardholder name must match the name entered at checkout.

To verify the cardholder name:

1. Go to the Cards page.
2. Select the card.
3. Confirm the cardholder name matches the name used for the purchase.

Card details screen showing the cardholder name.

Spending Restrictions

Transactions may decline if the card exceeds configured spending restrictions.

To review or update restrictions, see Spending Restrictions.

Allowance Policy Violation

The card may be limited by merchant type, spending amount, or time of day.

Merchant Restrictions

If merchant restrictions are enabled, the card can only be used with approved merchants or categories.

Card settings screen showing merchant restriction configuration.

To review transaction details, open the transaction and select Details.

Transaction details view showing merchant category and transaction information.

Transaction Limit

The card may have a per-transaction spending limit. Review the limit on the Cards page.

Card settings screen showing the per-transaction spending limit.

Date Restrictions

The card may have start or end date restrictions that prevent purchases outside the allowed period.

Card settings screen showing date restriction configuration.

Overdue Tasks

Spending may be limited if the cardholder has overdue tasks.

Log in to Emburse Cards to complete any outstanding tasks. For more information, see Transaction Approval.

Insufficient Funds

The Emburse Cards account may not have enough funds to approve the transaction.

An admin must transfer additional funds before new transactions can be approved. For instructions, see Transfer Funds.

Invalid CVV

For physical cards, the CVV is the three-digit number on the back of the card.

For virtual cards, the CVV is available on the Cards page.

Inactive Card

The card may be unactivated, suspended, or canceled.

Check the card status on the Cards page.

For more information, see Cards: Status, Reinstatements, Deletions.

Suspicious Activity

The transaction may have triggered a fraud alert.

If the purchase is legitimate, select It’s Good in the email and retry the transaction.

If you select Do Not Recognize, the merchant is permanently blocked for that card. Future transactions from that merchant will automatically decline.

A familiar merchant may still trigger a fraud alert if the merchant name appears differently, the purchase amount is unusual, or multiple charges occur in a short period.

Network Error

Network errors occur due to temporary communication issues with the card network.

This transaction was declined due to a communication error with the card network. Retry the purchase.

Business Account Lacks Sufficient Funds

The primary business account may not have sufficient funds. An administrator must transfer funds into the main account.

No Decline Email

If a purchase is declined and no email is received, Emburse Cards may not have received the authorization request.

Confirm that an Emburse Cards card was used. Contact the merchant to verify that they submitted the authorization request to the card network.

Automatically Declined Merchant Category Codes (MCC)

Certain merchant category codes are automatically declined.

The following MCCs are automatically declined:

  • 4829 – Wires, Money Orders
  • 5966 – Direct Marketing – Outbound Telemarketing
  • 6010 – Manual Cash Disbursement
  • 6011 – Automated Cash Disbursement
  • 6012 – Financial Institutions
  • 6050 – Quasi Cash – Customer Financial Institution
  • 6051 – Non-FI, Money Orders
  • 6211 – Security Brokers/Dealers
  • 6529 – Remote Stored Value Load – Financial Institution (Mastercard Only)
  • 6530 – Remote Stored Value Load – Merchant (Mastercard Only)
  • 6531 – Payment Service Provider – Money Transfer (Mastercard Only)
  • 6532 – Payment Service Provider – Financial Institution (Mastercard Only)
  • 6533 – Payment Service Provider – Merchant (Mastercard Only)
  • 6534 – Money Transfer – Financial Institution (Mastercard Only)
  • 6535 – Value Purchase – Financial Institution (Mastercard Only)
  • 6536 – MoneySend Intracountry
  • 6537 – MoneySend Intercountry
  • 6538 – MoneySend Funding
  • 7273 – Dating/Escort Services
  • 7800 – Government Owned Lotteries
  • 7801 – Government Licensed Online Casinos
  • 7802 – Government Licensed Horse/Dog Racing
  • 7995 – Betting/Casino Gambling
  • 9754 – Horse Racing, Dog Racing and Non-sport Internet Gaming

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