Decline codes decoded

Stripe exposes dozens of decline codes. The ones that matter most for recovery strategy:

Soft declines (retryable)

• insufficient_funds: 48-hour retry. Typically clears by next paycheck.
• do_not_honor: 72-hour retry. Generic bank refusal, often clears.
• card_velocity_exceeded: 24-hour retry. Customer hit their daily limit.
• issuer_not_available: 15-minute retry. Network blip.
• processing_error: Immediate retry. Stripe-side issue.

Hard declines (stop retrying)

• stolen_card / lost_card: Cancel subscription immediately.
• fraudulent: Cancel immediately, flag for review.
• pickup_card: Cancel immediately.
• incorrect_number / invalid_expiry: Update-card email only, no retry.

Context-dependent

• generic_decline: Single retry at 48h; if it fails again, go straight to update-card email.
• expired_card: Update-card email immediately; no retries help.
• card_not_supported: Update-card email; the customer needs to switch cards.

Omesta routes each decline through the correct path automatically. You can override the routing per-code in Settings → Recovery → Decline routing.