Having a card decline is a common, often embarrassing, and stressful experience, particularly in crowded, public, or professional settings. While it feels humiliating in the moment, it frequently results from minor technical issues, fraud protection, or expired cards, rather than lack of funds.
Your card may be declined for a number of reasons: the card has expired; you're over your credit limit; the card issuer sees suspicious activity that could be a sign of fraud; or a hotel, rental car company, or other business placed a block (or hold) on your card for its estimated total of your bill.
If your card gets declined, don't panic. It might be a simple user error, or your card issuer is trying to prevent fraud. But cards can also be declined if you've exceeded your card limit, or your new card has not yet been activated.
Key takeaways: Credit card denials and your credit score
A credit card application might be rejected for a variety of reasons. But getting denied for a card doesn't directly hurt your credit scores. Rather, it's the hard credit inquiry from applying in the first place that may lower your scores.
The 05 "Do Not Honor" message means the customer's bank has declined a transaction. This message is usually sent back to the merchant or service provider when a customer attempts to make a purchase online or complete a transaction using their debit or credit card, and the bank has refused to authorize the payment.
Here are the five most common ones:
A declined 05 code is a general Do Not Honor declined response. What does this decline mean? This is the most common and general declined message for transactions that are blocked by the bank that issued the card.
The 2/3/4 rule is a guideline, primarily used by Bank of America, that limits how many new credit cards you can get: no more than 2 in 30 days, 3 in 12 months, and 4 in 24 months, helping to prevent over-application and manage hard inquiries on your credit report. While not universal, it's a useful benchmark for responsible card application, though other banks have different rules (like Chase's 5/24 rule).
Soft declines are temporary issues like insufficient funds or authentication required. They can usually be retried successfully. Hard declines are permanent failures, such as a stolen card or invalid account, and should not be retried without changes from the customer.
Spending limits
The bank or credit union that issues your debit card will set your daily spending maximum. If you try to spend more than the maximum allowed, your debit card will be declined, even if you have enough money in your checking account.
Yes, being denied for a credit card doesn't directly hurt your score, but the hard inquiry from the application causes a small, temporary dip (a few points) that stays on your report for up to two years, with most impact fading in about a year; multiple hard inquiries in a short time can have a bigger negative effect. The denial itself isn't reported, but the inquiry is, so you'll see a slight score drop regardless of approval or denial, but it usually recovers quickly if you manage other credit well.
A credit score of 999 from Experian is the highest you can get. It usually means you don't have many marks on your credit file and are very likely to be accepted for a loan or credit card. However, a high credit score doesn't guarantee your loan will be accepted.
The lowest credit score is 300. Scores under 580 are considered poor, which can make it harder to qualify for credit cards and loans. Learn more. The lowest possible credit score for the two main scoring models, FICO and VantageScore® , is 300.
It's partly true: most negative items like late payments and collections are removed from your credit report after about seven years, but the underlying debt often still exists, and bankruptcies (Chapter 7) last 10 years, so your credit isn't entirely "clear" but mostly refreshed from old negatives. The 7-year clock starts from the date of the original delinquency, not when you paid it off or sent to collections, and the debt itself can still be pursued by collectors.
999 – Authentication Failure – The credentials provided are invalid or user does not have permission for action requested. Check the credentials and try again. 1007 – ProcessorDCCRequested – The transaction is being attempted in a different currency than the card holder card supports by default.
First, it goes to the payment processor, then to through the payment gateway, and finally to the customer's issuing bank. Any of these institutions can send back decline codes. Two of the most common declined credit card codes are 05: Do Not Honor and 51: Insufficient Funds.
Response Code: 37 - Contact Acquirer Security Department, Retain Card. The customer's card issuer has declined the transaction and requested that your customer's card be retained.