Visa's Processing Integrity Fee Program

Excessive Retrieves

Visa excessive retry fees applies to:

  • any reattempted transaction after receiving a Category 1 decline response.
  • The 16th consecutive and subsequent reattempted transactions after receiving a Category 2 – 4 decline response within a 30-day period.
  • Transactions where the merchant and the card issuer or cardholder are located within the U.S.

Visa's Processing Integrity Fee Category Table

CategoryDescriptionNetwork Response CodesConditions
Category 1 - Issuer Will Never Re-approve AttemptsCategory 1 decline response codes indicate the card is blocked for use or never existed and means there is no circumstance in which the Issuer will grant an approval. Evolve clients must not reattempt a transaction declined with a Category 1 decline response code; any reattempt to authorize will be assessed a fee.Response codes that indicate the account never existed or is permanently blocked including lost or stolen account numbers. This category also includes decline codes that indicate the transaction is not permitted due to permanent product/regulatory restrictions or transaction error.
Decline Response Codes:
04 (Pickup card)
07 (Pickup card, special conditions)
12 (Invalid transaction)
14 (Invalid account number)
15 (No such issuer)
41 (Pickup card, lost card)
43 (Pickup card, stolen card)
46 (Closed account)
57 (Transaction not permitted to cardholder)
R0 (Stop payment order)
R1 (Revocation of authorization order)
R3 (Revocation of all authorizations).
Re-attempt not allowed
Category 2 - Excessive Decline Re-attemptThe Visa Rules allow no more than 15 reattempts in a 30-day period. When a Evolve client resubmits an authorization following an initial decline in excess of this limit, a fee will be assessed to the 16th and each subsequent reattempt.Response codes that indicate the Issuer cannot approve due to temporary decline condition such as insufficient funds, Issuer velocity controls or other temporary account restrictions. These temporary decline decisions made by Issuers that may change over time and the Issuer may approve a future authorization attempt. In some cases, cardholder action is required to remove the restriction before an approval can be obtained.
Decline Response Codes:
03 (Invalid merchant)
19 (Re-enter transaction)
51 (Insufficient funds)
59 (Suspected fraud)
61 (Exceeds withdrawal amount limits)
62 (Restricted card)
65 (Exceeds withdrawal frequency)
75 (Allowable number of PIN-entry tries exceeded)
86 (Cannot verify PIN)
91 (Issuer or switch is inoperative)
93 (Transaction cannot be completed, violation of law)
96 (System malfunction)
N3 (Cash service not available)
N4 (Cash request exceeds issuer limit).
Re-attempt permitted up to 15 times in 30 days
Category 3 - Data QualityEvolve clients must implement controls to ensure good data quality in authorization requests. When a data quality response code is received, they should revalidate data prior to reattempting the authorization. Pre-validation of payment information, and merchant velocity controls can help to protect against account testing (also known as brute force / enumeration attacks) where fraudsters attempt to determine a valid card, expiration date and CVV2 data.Response codes that indicate data quality issues where invalid payment or authentication data has been provided and the Issuer may approve if valid information is provided. High occurrences of response codes in these categories may indicate insufficient Merchant risk protection controls such as velocity checks and pre-validation of basic account information (e.g. Mod-10 or expiry date).
Decline Response Codes:
54 (Expired card)
55 (Incorrect PIN)
82 (Negative online CAM, dCVV, iCVV, or CVV results)
N7 (Decline for CVV2 failure).
Re-attempt permitted up to 15 times in 30 days
Category 4 - Generic Response CodesA majority of decline conditions have descriptive response codes in Category 1, 2 & 3 to indicate the decline reason. However, there may be circumstances where there is not response code value for a specific decline condition. Category 4 includes all other decline response codes, many of which provide little to no value to Evolve clients as part of their reattempt strategy.This category includes all other decline response codes, many of which provide little to no value to Acquirers or Merchants in determining their reattempt strategy. Issuer usage should remain minimal.
Decline Response Codes:
Any decline response code not listed in Category 1 - 3.
Re-attempt permitted up to 15 times in 30 days