Understanding payment declines and how to help your customers

Payment declines are a normal part of payment processing. Most declines are customer-side issues that can be resolved quickly by trying a different card or payment method.

Where to see decline reasons

In the dashboard

1. Go to Payments

2. Find the payment with Rejected state

3. Click on the payment to open details

4. Check Reason for Failure field

This shows a plain-text explanation of why the payment was declined.

In the payment export report

When you export payment data (CSV), the status_detail column contains the decline reason for rejected payments.

This is useful for analyzing patterns across multiple declined payments.

Common decline reasons in LATAM

Insufficient funds

What it means: Customer's account doesn't have enough money to cover the payment.

What to tell your customer: "Your payment was declined due to insufficient funds. Please check your account balance and try again, or use a different payment method."

What you can do: Nothing. This is entirely customer-side.

Card declined by bank

What it means: The customer's bank rejected the transaction. This can be due to:

• Fraud protection systems flagging the transaction

• International payments blocked

• Daily spending limits reached

• Card not activated for online purchases

What to tell your customer: "Your bank declined this payment. Please contact your bank to authorize the transaction, then try again. Alternatively, you can use a different card or payment method."

What you can do: Nothing. The customer needs to contact their bank.

Incorrect card details

What it means: Card number, expiry date, or CVC code entered incorrectly.

What to tell your customer: "The card details entered don't match your bank's records. Please double-check your card number, expiry date, and security code, then try again."

What you can do: Nothing. The customer needs to re-enter their information correctly.

Expired card

What it means: The card's expiration date has passed.

What to tell your customer: "Your card has expired. Please use your new card or a different payment method."

What you can do: If this is a subscription payment, ask the customer to update their payment method in Rebill.

Card security restrictions

What it means: The bank's fraud protection flagged this as suspicious. Common triggers:

• First purchase from your business

• Payment from a different country than usual

• Large or unusual amount

• Multiple failed attempts in a short time

What to tell your customer: "Your bank's security system flagged this transaction. Please contact your bank to authorize the payment, then try again."

What you can do: Nothing. The customer needs to authorize the payment with their bank.

Daily limit exceeded

What it means: Customer hit their daily spending limit set by their bank.

What to tell your customer: "You've reached your daily spending limit. You can try again tomorrow, or contact your bank to temporarily increase your limit, or use a different payment method."

What you can do: Nothing. This is a bank-side restriction.

What NOT to do

Don't report individual payment declines to support

Why: Individual payment declines are almost always customer-side issues that cannot be resolved by Rebill support. Issuers don't provide enough technical detail for us to investigate single cases.

When to report payment issues:

Only report payment declines when you see a pattern of 20+ declined payments with similar characteristics:

• Same decline reason

• Same payment method

• Same country or region

• Same time period

This allows us to identify technical issues or patterns that need investigation.

How to report patterns:

1. Export payment data (CSV) for the time period

2. Filter by Rejected status

3. Identify common patterns in status_detail column

4. Contact support@rebill.com with:

   • Number of declines

   • Date range

   • Common decline reason

   • Country/payment method affected

   • CSV export attached

How to reduce payment declines

Offer multiple payment methods

Different payment methods work better for different customers. Make sure you have:

• Cards — Credit and debit cards

• Bank transfers — PIX (Brazil), SPEI (Mexico), PSE (Colombia)

Enable multiple methods in your Payment Links to give customers options.

See How to configure payment methods for a Payment Link.

Use automatic retries for subscriptions

For recurring subscription payments, Rebill automatically retries failed payments 4 times over 8 days.

This handles temporary issues like:

• Insufficient funds (customer gets paid later)

• Daily limits (resets next day)

• Temporary bank system issues

Enable subscription renewal notifications

Use the Subscription upcoming charge notification to remind customers about upcoming renewals. You can configure this in the Notifications section of your Dashboard.

How it works:

• Sends automatically 3 days before subscription renewal

• Reminds customer to ensure sufficient balance

• Includes an "Update card" button so customers can update expired cards before the charge

Why it helps:

• Prevents declines due to insufficient funds

• Allows customers to update expired cards proactively

• Reduces failed payments and customer support inquiries

Helping customers troubleshoot

When a customer contacts you about a declined payment, follow this checklist:

Step 1: Check the decline reason

• Go to payment details in your dashboard

• Read the Reason for Failure

• Share the reason with the customer (in plain language)

Step 2: Suggest next steps based on reason

Step 3: Offer alternative payment methods

If the customer's card continues to decline:

• Suggest trying a different card

• Offer bank transfer (PIX, SPEI, PSE)

• Provide your Payment Link with multiple methods enabled

Understanding "soft declines" vs "hard declines"

Soft declines (recoverable)

Payment failed for a temporary reason. Automatic retries can succeed.

Examples:

• Insufficient funds

• Daily limit exceeded

• Temporary bank system error

For subscriptions: Rebill automatically retries these 4 times.

Hard declines (not recoverable)

Payment failed for a permanent reason. Retries won't help.

Examples:

• Stolen card

• Invalid card number

• Expired card

• Card type not supported

For subscriptions: No automatic retries. Customer needs to update payment method.

Payment decline analytics

Export and analyze decline patterns

1. Go to Payments

2. Filter by Rejected status

3. Export to CSV

4. Analyze status_detail column

Look for patterns:

• Which decline reason is most common?

• Which payment method has highest decline rate?

• Which country has most declines?

• Are declines increasing over time?

If you see concerning patterns (20+ similar declines), contact support@rebill.com with the data.