Payments - Understanding the Difference Between a Soft Decline and Hard Decline? (200, 203, 204, 205, 230)
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12/18/2025 18:42 PM
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Introduction
This article explains the difference between soft declines and hard declines, how they occur, and how merchants can proceed when encountering each type of response during payment processing.
Overview
A soft decline occurs when a transaction is authorized by the issuing bank but declined by transaction processing systems due to a business rule setting. Authorization places a temporary hold on the customer’s funds, but settlement has not occurred. Merchants may continue processing the sale by requesting settlement or may request an authorization reversal to remove the fund hold.
A hard decline occurs when the issuing bank refuses to authorize the transfer of funds. This may happen due to insufficient credit, suspected fraud, or a lost or stolen card. Hard declines cannot be retried and require the customer to provide a different form of payment.
Examples of Soft Declines
| Reason Code | Reply Flag (rflag) | Status (REST API) | Reason (REST API) | REST: Message (SCMP: r_message) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | DAVSNO | AUTHORIZED_PENDING_REVIEW | AVS_FAILED | Soft Decline - The authorization request was approved by the issuing bank but declined because it did not pass the Address Verification Service (AVS) check. | The authorization request did not pass the Address Verification Service (AVS) check. |
| 230 | DCV | AUTHORIZED_PENDING_REVIEW | CV_FAILED | Soft Decline - The authorization request was approved by the issuing bank but declined because it did not pass the Card Verification Number (CVN) check. | The authorization request did not pass the Card Verification Number (CVN), also known as Card Verification Value (CVV). |
Examples of Hard Declines
| Reason Code | Reply Flag (rflag) | Status (REST API) | Reason (REST API) | REST: Message (SCMP: r_message) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 203 | DCARDREFUSED | DECLINED | PROCESSOR_DECLINED | Decline - General decline of the card. No additional information provided by the issuing bank. | Request a different card or payment method. |
| 204 | DCARDREFUSED | DECLINED | INSUFFICIENT_FUND | Decline - Insufficient funds in the account. | Request a different card or payment method. |
| 205 | DCARDREFUSED | DECLINED | STOLEN_LOST_CARD | Decline - Stolen or lost card. | Refer the transaction to your customer support center for manual review. |
Recurring Transactions
In recurring billing environments, a soft decline may also refer to an issuing bank decline caused by a temporary condition such as non-sufficient funds (NSF). These transactions may be retried once the temporary condition is resolved. There is an option to add ignore avs to your gateway this allows transactions to bypass Address Verification Service checks, preventing AVS‑related soft declines.
Additional Information
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