What is “Do Not Honor” (Decline Code 05)?

“Do Not Honor,” commonly identified as Decline Code 05, is a routine response from the card issuer that communicates the decline of an authorization request, without adding more specific details. This code functions as a generic response from the issuer and does not indicate a particular issue such as insufficient account funds or some transaction problem.

According to ISO 8583-style authorization mappings, response code 05 represents a Do Not Honor message. This code informs the merchant when an issuer does not approve a payment, and it functions as a general indication rather than providing additional details about the issuer’s internal decision.

Card networks may use other response codes to share more specific information such as insufficient funds, suspected fraud, expired cards, or other authorization results.

A Do Not Honor message, listed as Code 05, is a standard term in payment processing and is part of routine issuer communications. This code informs merchants that the reason for the decision is general rather than highly detailed, so merchants cannot reliably determine its root cause from the code alone. Code 05 can refer to issuer policies, account restrictions, or regular review processes if other codes are not in use.

Networks and issuers often assign their own unique codes to share information about specific situations, such as when verification is required. Code 05 is used as a broad grouping for declines when a more specific explanation does not apply. Mastercard guidance explains that this code is used if no more appropriate decline reason is available.

Different decline codes each refer to specific conditions that affect whether an authorization can be approved. While Code 05 is a general response, other codes indicate more precisely why a transaction was not authorized, such as referencing account balance, card status, or transaction parameters. These distinctions are defined by the card network or payment system, so the details may differ by provider. In many situations, seeing a detailed response code allows merchants to better understand the type of authorization outcome involved.

In many situations, seeing a detailed response code allows merchants to better understand the type of authorization outcome involved.

In short, no – within the American Express Global Network action-code reference, 004 is not classified as a Do Not Honor decline. In that coding system, 004 means Approved, update track 3, while 100 is used for a general denial.

As a result, a label such as CAP 004 is likely to be derived from the processador, o gateway, or any other implementation, as opposed to being an authorization action code from American Express. As a way of determining the meaning of CAP 004, merchants can consult the relevant documentation for their processing system rather than immediately equating CAP 004 with Decline Code 05.

Uma issuer-side decline describes a situation in which the banco emissor processes an authorization request and provides a decline response. In many cases, Code 05 is used to indicate a generic issuer response when more specific details are not provided.

A payment can also be rejected by an adquirente, gateway, or processor because of validation rules, merchant configuration, risk controls, or unsupported transaction data. In these scenarios, the explanation given to a merchant might be generated before or outside the issuer’s authorization decision.

To avoid any misunderstandings, companies must therefore make the distinction between the actual code returned by the issuer/network and the codes created by the provider itself.

When a Code 05 decline is received, merchants can use available information to determine any next steps. Rather than try to identify the reason based on the code alone, it may be useful to ask the cardholder to contact the issuer or consider a different valid método de pagamento.

Merchant advice, payment network retry processes, and processor guidelines are also some of the sources merchants can refer to when determining whether to retry a transaction. 

Documentation from MasterCard includes Merchant Advice Codes that give information on how to handle retries under various scenarios of decline.