A "do not honour" decline – usually labelled code 05 – is one of the more generic responses an issuing bank can send back on a card transaction. It means the bank refused to authorise the charge, without giving an indication of why. This code shows up relatively often, especially in card-not-present and e-commerce transactions.

Code 05 doesn't point to a specific problem, such as insufficient funds or an expired card, so there's no way for businesses to diagnose the cause from the merchant side alone. To determine what triggered the decline, the cardholder needs to reach out to their bank directly. The good news is that in many cases, the problem is something the cardholder can resolve quickly once they're on the phone with their bank.

For businesses, that still leaves the question of how to handle these declines when they happen. Below, we'll cover what businesses should know about "do not honour" card refusals, their potential causes, and effective strategies for handling them while minimising disruptions.

What's in this article?

• What does a "do not honour" refusal code mean?
  
• Reasons for a "do not honour" code during a transaction
  
• How businesses can handle "do not honour" decline codes
  
• Preventing "do not honour" declines
  
• How Stripe Payments can help
  

What does a 'do not honour' refusal code mean?

"Do not honour" is a generic decline code that the issuing bank sends to the business during a transaction. It means that the bank is not willing to accept the transaction.

When processing a credit or debit card transaction, you may encounter a variety of refusal codes, each of which indicates a different problem or issue with the transaction. Unfortunately, the "do not honour" code doesn't offer any specifics, so the cardholder will need to contact their bank to find out the exact reason for the decline. In many cases, the cardholder can resolve the issue quickly, and you can continue to process the transaction.

At the network level, "do not honour" is typically labelled decline code 05. If you're processing payments through Stripe, you'll encounter this decline under Stripe's own coding system. Stripe uses its own decline codes that expand on issuer decline codes by offering more detail about the specific reason for the decline. Stripe's corresponding code for this decline is do_not_honor. For a full breakdown of Stripe's decline codes and how they map to issuer codes, developers can refer to Stripe's decline codes documentation.

It's important to understand where "do not honour" falls on the spectrum of hard versus soft declines. A hard decline, such as one triggered by a stolen or cancelled card, signals that the transaction should not be retried – the underlying problem won't necessarily resolve itself, and another attempt is unlikely to succeed. A soft decline, on the other hand, points to a temporary issue. "Do not honour" typically falls into this category: once the cardholder works out the problem with their bank, another attempt at the same transaction may go through.

Reasons for a 'do not honour' code during a transaction

When a bank chooses not to accept a transaction, it issues a "do not honour" decline code. The code itself doesn't specify the reason for refusal, and depending on the situation there are many potential reasons:

• Insufficient funds
  This is a common reason for the "do not honour" code. For example, consider a customer who is trying to buy a designer jacket at a boutique. If their debit card is declined with a "do not honour" code, it might be because their current account doesn't contain the funds to cover the cost of the jacket. The same situation can happen online. If a customer tries to purchase a new gaming console from an e-commerce site but doesn't have enough funds in their account, they would receive a "do not honour" code.

• Suspicious activity
  Banks use advanced systems to monitor potential fraud. For example, imagine that a cardholder is travelling abroad and makes a purchase at a local market. If their bank is unaware of the cardholder's travel plans, it may flag this as suspicious activity and decline the transaction, which results in a "do not honour" code. This can also happen online. If a customer – or a fraudulent actor – enters card details on a suspicious website, the bank may classify the transaction as a risk and decline it. Other causes of suspicion include unusual purchase amounts, purchases within categories the cardholder does not normally use (such as online gambling, luxury goods, or multiple gift cards), and velocity checks (multiple transactions in a short time window).

• Exceeding daily limit
  Most cards have a daily limit on transactions. For instance, a business owner who is trying to purchase supplies at a wholesaler could receive a “do not honour” code if they’ve already made numerous high-cost purchases that day and the most recent transaction exceeds their card’s daily limit. Similarly, if a customer is paying multiple vendors for services on a freelancing platform and their total payments exceed the card’s daily limit, they would also receive a “do not honour” code.

• Incorrect card details
  If the cardholder enters the card number, expiry date, or card verification code (CVV) number incorrectly, the transaction will be declined. For example, imagine a scenario at a restaurant where the server mistypes part of the card information into the system. The bank would decline the transaction, resulting in a "do not honour" code. This can also occur online if a customer enters their card details incorrectly while trying to make a purchase.

• Other account issues
  Other account issues range from a closed account to a card that hasn’t been activated yet. If a customer tries to use a recently closed credit card account at a grocery store, for example, the transaction would be declined with a “do not honour” code. Similarly, if a customer tries to use a new card to make an online purchase before activating the card, they would receive the same decline code.

• Lost or stolen card (codes 41 and 43)
  "Do not honour" can appear before the more specific codes are sent, or when the issuing bank opts for the generic code.

• Card blocked or on hold
  A bank might place a temporary hold on a card due to past delinquency, irregular activity, or administrative reasons unrelated to the current transaction.

In all of these situations, the best course of action is for the customer to contact their bank to understand the exact reason behind the “do not honour” code and take necessary steps to resolve the issue.

How businesses can handle 'do not honour' decline codes

When a business encounters a "do not honour" decline code during a transaction, they need strategies in place to handle these situations effectively and minimise disruptions to the customer experience. Here are some ways businesses can respond:

• Handling incorrect card information
  If a decline arises from incorrect card details, such as an incorrect card number or expiry date, businesses should guide their customers to correct the error. In these cases, providing the customer with immediate feedback can be very useful. For instance, Stripe's Checkout can notify the customer if the card they're attempting to use has been declined, allowing them to correct any errors, try again, or use an alternative payment method.

• Managing suspected fraudulent activity
  Card issuers may decline transactions if they suspect fraudulent activity, which can be challenging for businesses to handle. However, requiring customers to provide the CVV and postal code during checkout can significantly decrease the number of declines. Including additional information, such as the full billing address, can also improve decline rates, although this varies by card brand and country. If a business continues to experience a high number of declines, it could consider collecting this data. Additionally, implementing 3D Secure for payment authentication can help decrease decline rates in countries that support the service.

• Investigating "do not honour" declines
  When it's not clear what a particular "do not honour" decline refers to, analysing accompanying data can help businesses understand why the card may have been declined. For example, if CVV or address verification system (AVS) checks failed when the customer tried to add the card, resolving these issues and then re-attempting the charge may result in successful authorisation. If a business notices that a card is issued in a different country from the one that corresponds to the client's IP address, this may suggest a legitimate decline due to potential unauthorised card use.

In all of these scenarios, the key is to provide the customer with as much assistance as possible. By ensuring that the customer is informed about the situation and helping them navigate the necessary steps, you can maintain a positive customer experience, even in the face of a transaction decline.

Handling 'do not honour' declines in person

A "do not honour" decline at the point of sale demands that a business show tact and professionalism, since the customer is standing right there. A few practical guidelines can help:

• Offer an alternative payment method right away: Rather than letting the moment stall, suggest the customer try a different card, cash, or a digital wallet immediately. This keeps the transaction moving and reduces the customer's discomfort.

• Don't speculate about the cause out loud: Avoid guessing the reason for the decline in front of other customers or staff. The code itself doesn't specify a cause, so any theory you offer might be inaccurate.

• For high-value purchases, it's reasonable to wait: If the customer wants to call their bank on the spot to resolve the issue, accommodating a short wait is often worthwhile for larger transactions, since the sale might still go through once the bank clears it.

A note for subscription businesses: for recurring billing, automated retries on a "do not honour" decline should not re-attempt the charge right away. Immediate retries on a soft decline could trigger a card lock or fraud flag at the issuer level. Instead, subscription businesses using Stripe should rely on Stripe Billing's Smart Retries, which uses machine learning to time retry attempts rather than firing them off immediately after a failure.

Preventing 'do not honour' declines

While there's no way to eliminate "do not honour" declines entirely, business owners can take several proactive steps to reduce how often they occur.

• Collect CVC and postal code at checkout
  Requiring the card's CVC and billing postal code during checkout gives the issuing bank more data points to verify the transaction, which can lower the odds of a decline triggered by fraud-detection systems.

• Implement 3D Secure
  3D Secure adds an extra layer of authentication to card transactions, shifting some liability away from the merchant and giving the issuing bank more confidence to approve the charge. In regions where 3D Secure is widely supported, enabling it can cut down on declines tied to suspected fraud.

• Examine accompanying data on generic declines
  Even though "do not honour" itself doesn't specify a cause, the data surrounding the decline – such as failed CVC or AVS checks, or a mismatch between the card's country of issue and the customer's IP address – often points to a fixable problem. Reviewing this data over time can help merchants spot patterns (for example, a checkout field that is confusing customers) and address the root cause before it leads to more declines. Developers building out retry logic around these signals can reference Stripe's card declines documentation for more detail on how to interpret and act on decline data.

• Offer multiple payment methods
  Giving customers more than one way to pay – additional card networks, digital wallets, bank transfers, or buy-now-pay-later options – gives them an easy alternative if one method gets declined. This doesn't reduce the chance of the initial decline, but it does reduce the odds that a single "do not honour" response costs the business the sale.

• Send proactive reminders for subscriptions
  For recurring billing, a card can get flagged simply because the issuing bank doesn't recognise the merchant or hasn't seen a charge from that account recently. This is especially common right after a free trial converts to a paid plan. Sending customers a reminder before the charge goes through gives them a chance to confirm the charge is expected, which can reduce the chance that the bank will flag it as suspicious.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payments solution that helps any business – from scaling startups to global enterprises – accept payments online, in person and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimise your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save thousands of engineering hours with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.
  
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• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.
  

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments or get started today.