Card decline code

do_not_honor: Do not honor

The issuing bank declined the payment without giving a reason. It is a catch-all code: the cause might be a fraud check, an account restriction or the bank's own rules.

Decline type
Needs the customer: contact the bank or confirm details
Retry?
Rarely helps on its own
Who must act
The customer and their bank

What do_not_honor means

do_not_honor tells you the bank said no, but not why. Common causes are the bank's fraud systems flagging the charge, a temporary hold on the account, or the cardholder blocking certain merchants or recurring payments.

Because the reason sits with the bank, you cannot fix it from your side. The cardholder has to contact the issuer.

Should you retry the payment?

One or two spaced retries can succeed if the bank's block was temporary, but repeated retries usually fail and count against card network retry limits. Get the customer involved early.

How to recover a subscription payment declined with do_not_honor

  1. Email the customer right away: the bank declined the charge and only they can find out why.
  2. Ask them to call the number on the back of the card and approve future charges from your business, or to switch to another card.
  3. Retry once or twice after they confirm, spaced at least a day apart. Do not hammer the card.
  4. If nothing changes, escalate to a WhatsApp message (or a phone call) before the subscription is cancelled.

What to tell the customer

Explain that their bank declined the charge and that a quick call to the bank, or a different card, will fix it.

"Hi Sam, your bank declined this month's $49 payment for Acme. This is usually a security check. A quick call to the number on your card will clear it, or you can switch cards here."

More wording for every situation is in our dunning email templates.

How Revnio handles do_not_honor

Revnio records do_not_honor on the failed payment, follows your retry schedule (by default 1, 3, 5 and 7 days, adjusted for the customer's value and plan, and moved to weekday business hours), and emails the customer a secure link to pay or update their card. WhatsApp (Pro plan) reminders follow if the email is not clicked. The Insights page shows how often each decline code recovers for you. On Paddle, Paddle runs the payment retries itself and Revnio handles the customer outreach.

Decline codes are returned by the card issuer through your payment processor. Code names here follow Stripe's; Chargebee and Paddle surface the same issuer reasons with their own wording. Last reviewed 2026-10-15.

Frequently asked questions

Is do_not_honor a hard or soft decline?

It sits in between. The card may still work, but only once the cardholder has spoken to their bank, so treat it as needing customer action rather than retrying blindly.

Does do_not_honor mean fraud?

Not necessarily. It often comes from the bank's automated fraud checks, but it can also be an account restriction or a block on recurring payments. The bank will not tell the merchant which.

What does decline code do_not_honor mean?

The issuing bank declined the payment without giving a reason. It is a catch-all code: the cause might be a fraud check, an account restriction or the bank's own rules.

Should I retry a payment declined with do_not_honor?

Rarely helps on its own. One or two spaced retries can succeed if the bank's block was temporary, but repeated retries usually fail and count against card network retry limits. Get the customer involved early.

Recover failed payments on autopilot

Revnio retries failed payments at the right time and reaches customers by email and WhatsApp until the card is fixed. Works with Stripe, Chargebee and Paddle.

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