Issuer Not Available
What This Means
The card issuing bank could not be reached to authorize the transaction. This is typically a temporary network or system issue on the bank's side. SaaS businesses should retry these transactions as they usually succeed once the issuer is back online.
Smart retry logic can recover this payment. Use exponential backoff and retry after 24-72 hours.
Common Causes
- 1The issuing bank's authorization system is temporarily down for maintenance
- 2Network connectivity issues between the payment processor and the issuing bank
- 3Bank is experiencing high traffic volume causing timeouts
Recovery Tactics
- 1Automatically retry the charge after 1-2 hours
- 2If the first retry fails, retry again after 24 hours
- 3Do not notify the customer on the first failure as it is likely to resolve automatically
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FAQ
How long should I wait before retrying?
Start with a 1-2 hour delay for the first retry, then 24 hours for the second. Most issuer availability issues resolve within a few hours. If it persists beyond 48 hours, it may be a different underlying problem.
Should I notify the customer about this decline?
For the first occurrence, it is best to retry silently. Only notify the customer if the decline persists after 2-3 retries, as the issue is on the bank's side and there is nothing the customer can do.
How healthy is your Stripe account?
Get a free churn health report. Find pending cancellations, failed payments, and expiring cards putting your MRR at risk.
Run Free Audit