Reason codes
In comparison, the risk of chargebacks using SEPA is higher than in the credit card environment. This is due to the fact that chargebacks with "non-sufficient-funds" or "wrong bank account" can occur. In order to minimise this risk and increase success rates, special processes must be in place.
If you pay with SDD, you have the right to initiate a chargeback up to 13 months after payment. However this is just as theoretical as the time period of 24 months for credit card chargebacks. In practice, 99 percent of chargebacks already occur 2 weeks after the SDD is processed.
If a transaction is charged back, you will receive the associated reason code. This reason code is used to indicate why the transaction failed. In the SEPA scheme there are more than 220 different chargeback reason codes. To enable you to process these automatically and reduce complexity, BC Connect consolidates them and gives you recommendations on how to react to individual reason codes.
Our recommendations for best practices are listed in the tables below.
Caused by invalid data
If the declination is for any of the reasons listed below, review and correct the payment details and arrange a new attempt to send the payment.
| Reason Code | Trigger | Token | Info | Action | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC01 | INV | DAT | Account number is invalid or missing. Format of the account number specified is not correct | Contact customer | Contact the customer to request a valid IBAN or new account details. |
| RC01 | INV | DAT | Bank Identifier Code specified in the message has an incorrect format. | Contact customer | Contact the customer to request a valid BIC or new account details. |
| RR01 | INV | DAT | Specification of the debtor’s account or unique identification needed for reasons of regulatory requirements is insufficient or missing. | Adjust data and resend transaction | If the payment is declined due to missing information, check the payment data and retry sending it. If the payment is declined for regulatory issues, please contact the customers bank. |
| RR02 | INV | DAT | Specification of the debtor’s name and/or address needed for regulatory requirements is insufficient or missing. | Adjust data and resend transaction | If the payment is declined due to missing information, check the payment data and retry sending it. If the payment is declined for regulatory issues, please contact the customers bank. |
| RR04 | INV | DAT | Payment was declined for regulatory reasons. | Contact customer bank | Request the bank to contact the debtors bank for more information about the declination. |
| BE01 | INV | DAT | Identification of the end customer does not match the associated account number. | Contact customer/Start dunning | Contact the customer for further details. |
Caused by Customer
The following reason codes listed below occur due to issues with the bank account, the customer or the transaction itself. These are the most common reason codes and can be categorised into three groups.
- Declination due to issues with the specified bank account.
- Declination due to the transaction itself.
- Due to disputed or unauthorized transactions.
Declination due to issues with the specified bank account
It is possible that some accounts do not allow Direct Debits. There may be various reasons for this, for example, if the customer has closed the account or it has been blocked.
If a transaction is declined for one of the reasons listed in the table below, it is not recommended to create further Direct Debits for this account. Contact the customer to get new account details or ask them to unblock their account.
| Reason Code | Trigger | Token | Info | Action | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AG01 | INV | ACC | Transaction forbidden on this type of account. | Contact customer | Contact the customer to get new account details. |
| AC04 | INV | ACC | The specified bank account has been closed. | Blacklist and contact customer | Blacklist the closed bank account to prevent further transactions and contact the customer for new account details. |
| MD07 | INV | ACC | The customer is deceased. | Blacklist | Cancel the transaction and blacklist the account to prevent any further transactions. |
| AC06 | INV | ACC | The specified account is blocked. No transactions can be booked for this account. | Contact customer | Contact the customer to get new account details. |
| SL01 | INV | ACC | Declination due to specific service offered by the Debtor Agent. | Contact customer | The reason for declination is due to a special service of the debtor bank according to which all direct debits not explicitly authorized by the customer are returned (e.g. blacklist). |
| AC13 | INV | ACC | Debtor account type missing or invalid. | Contact customer | Contact the customer to get new account details. |
| PY01 | INV | ACC | The transaction can’t be processed because the debtors or creditors bank is not a registered participant in the SEPA scheme. | Contact customer | Contact the customer to get new account details. |
| XT79 | INV | ACC | The transaction can´t be processed because the debtor agent is not permitted to receive Direct Debits. An indirect participant must be authorized to receive direct debits from the clearing system. | Contact customer | Contact the customer to get new account details. |
Declination due to the transaction itself
Some of the most common reasons for a transaction to be declined are, for example, if the customer disputes the booking of a Direct Debit or if the Direct Debit was rejected due to insufficient funds.
If a transaction is declined for any of the reasons listed below, we recommend that you contact the customer in order to try to resend the transaction.
| Reason Code | Trigger | Token | Info | Action | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AM04 | CHB | ISF | The amount of funds available to cover the specified transaction was insufficient. | Retry 1st of the month | Contact the customer and arrange a new attempt to submit the payment. |
| MS02 | CHB | ACT | Reason for chargeback was not specified by customer. | Contact customer / Start dunning | The customer disputes the debit. Contact the customer and arrange a new attempt to submit the payment. |
| MS03 | CHB | ACT | Reason was not specified by agent. | Contact customer | One of the most common error codes. This reason code occurs when banks decide, out of reasons of data protection, not to specify any return codes. Contact the customer and arrange a new attempt to submit the payment. |
Declination due to disputed or unauthorised transactions
If a chargeback occurs, caused by one of the reasons listed below, the customer has requested a chargeback. Reasons for this could either be an unauthorised or disputed transaction.
| Reason Code | Trigger | Token | Info | Action | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MD06 | CHB | ACT | The customer requested a chargeback. | Contact customer / Start dunning | The customer has requested a chargeback for a non authorised transaction (only possible with SDD). This can happen up to 8 weeks after billing. We recommend contacting the customer for further details. |
| MD01 | CHB | ACT | No existing mandate was found. | Contact customer | The customer doesn't have a mandate set up with you. We recommend contacting your customer for further details. |
Declination due to data errors
These types of reason codes are rather uncommon. BC Connect generates and verifies the SEPA files, which means that these reasons are largely excluded, as we take care of them.
| Reason Code | Trigger | Token | Info | Action | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AM05 | INV | DAT | Duplicate was found. | Check data | Please check if the transaction was initiated twice. |
| BE05 | INV | DAT | Party who initiated the message is not recognized by the end customer. | Check data and resend | Reinitiate after checking and adjusting the CreditorID. |
| FF01 | INV | FRM | File format was incomplete or invalid. | Check data | Check and adjust the XML-file based on scheme rules. |
| FF05 | INV | FRM | Local instrument code is missing or invalid. The specified Direct Debit type is incorrect. | Check data | Check and adjust the type of the Direct Debit (E.g. B2B, B2C, single or recurring) |
| MD02 | INV | DAT | Mandate related information required by the scheme is missing. | Check data | Check and update missing data in the file or transaction. |
| RR03 | INV | DAT | Specification of the creditor’s name and/or address needed for regulatory requirements is insufficient or missing. | Check data and resend | If data or attributes are missing, please adjust missing data based on the scheme rules and resend the transaction. If the reason is based on regulatory reasons please contact the consumer bank. |
| AG02 | INV | DAT | Bank operation code specified in the message is not valid for receiver. | Check data and resend | Update and adjust wrong attributes before resending the transaction. |
| XT33 | INV | FRM | The content of at least one XML element is not in the format required. The invalid XML field is indicated by the error code. | Check data and resend | Update and adjust wrong attributes before resending the transaction. |
| XT91 | INV | FRM | Invalid country code in Creditor Agent. | Contact provider | Update and adjust the creditorID. For further information we recommend contacting your bank or provider. |
| DT01 | INV | FRM | Invalid date (e.g. wrong settlement date) | Contact provider | Contact the customer to resend the payment after adjusting the settlement date. For further information we recommend contacting your bank or provider. |
In addition to the reason codes of the depending scheme, BC Connect has defined reason codes to make it as easy as possible for you to understand what might have gone wrong when using our API. You can find them in the table below.
If some reason codes appear similar, be aware that the reason codes often belong to different entities.
| Entity | Reason Code | Cause | Trigger | Token | Info | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BankAccount | SPX 100 | invalidBankDetails | INV | DAT | Creation failed. IBAN not valid. | We recommend contacting the customer for a valid IBAN or if necessary new bank account details. |
| BankAccount | SPX 101 | invalidBankDetails | INV | DAT | Creation failed. BIC not valid. | We recommend contacting the customer for a valid BIC or if necessary new bank account details. |
| BankAccount | SPX 159 | bankAccountFailed | ||||
| BankAccount | SPX 102 | blacklisted | INV | DAT | Creation failed. bank account on blacklist. | |
| Mandate | SPX 200 | missingApproval | INV | DAT | Creation failed. The mandate could not be created due to a missing or invalid approval. | Create a new mandate and contact customer to complete the approval. |
| Mandate | SPX 205 | invalidTAN | INV | DAT | Request a new TAN. | |
| Mandate | SPX 206 | wrongTAN | INV | DAT | Retry with correct TAN. | |
| Mandate | SPX 259 | mandateFailed | ||||
| Payment | SPX 300 | invalidMandate | INV | DAT | Creation failed. The payment could not be created due to a missing or invalid mandate. | Contact your customer to create a new mandate. |
| Payment | SPX 301 | blacklisted | INV | DAT | Creation failed. Information on blacklist. | Cancel the payment and add the customer to your blacklist to prevent further errors. |
| Payment | SPX 302 | reviewRejected | DIS | ACT | The payment has been actively rejected during a review by the merchant. | |
| Payment | SPX 303 | invalidBankDetails | INV | DAT | Creation failed. IBAN not matching bank account. | Contact your customer to retrieve valid data. |
| Payment | SPX 304 | missingApproval | INV | DAT | Creation failed. The payment could not be created due to a missing or invalid approval. | Create a new payment and contact customer to complete the approval. |
| Payment | SPX 305 | invalidTAN | INV | DAT | Request a new TAN. | |
| Payment | SPX 306 | wrongTAN | INV | DAT | Retry with correct TAN. | |
| Payment | SPX 307 | invalidBankDetails | INV | DAT | Creation failed. The currency code does not match the bank account. | Contact the customer to retrieve valid data. |
| Payment | SPX 308 | reviewExpired | DIS | ACT | The payment expired while waiting for review. | |
| Payment | SPX 310 | invalidMandate | INV | DAT | The attempt to collect a payment has failed due to an invalid mandate. | Contact the customer to create a new mandate. |
| Payment | SPX 399 | paymentConfirmed | ||||
| Customer | SPX 400 | blacklisted | INV | DAT | Creation failed. Customer is backlisted. | Cancel affected transactions and add the customer to your blacklist to prevent further errors. |
| Customer | SPX 401 | invalidCustomerDetails | INV | DAT | Creation failed. Customer details are not valid. | We recommend contacting the customer for valid details. |
| Customer | SPX 459 | customerFailed | ||||
| Risk | SPX 701 | failedRiskCheck | AIS | ACC | Risk check failed. There was no account available to check. | Contact the customer to get new account details. |
| Risk | SPX 702 | failedRiskCheck | AIS | DAT | Risk check failed. The given IBAN does not match any IBAN available via AIS. | Contact the customer to get new account details. |
| Risk | SPX 703 | failedRiskCheck | AIS | ACT | Risk check failed. The process was cancelled by the customer. | Contact the customer and restart the AIS approval. |
| Risk | SPX 704 | failedRiskCheck | AIS | FRM | Risk check failed. A failure occurred while connecting to a third-party provider. | Contact the customer and restart the AIS approval. |
| Risk | SPX 705 | failedRiskCheck | INV | DAT | Risk check failed. The amount of funds requested is below the minimum transaction amount. | Contact your developer to request a valid amount. |
| Risk | SPX 706 | failedRiskCheck | INV | DAT | Risk check failed. The amount of funds requested is above the maximum transaction amount. | Contact your developer to request a valid amount. |
| Risk | SPX 707 | failedRiskCheck | INV | DAT | Risk check failed. The count of payments per period exceeds the limit. | Contact the customer and retry later. |
| Risk | SPX 710 | failedRiskCheck | AIS | ISF | Risk check failed. The amount of funds available to cover the direct debit were insufficient. | Contact the customer to arrange a retry. |
| HostedPage | SPX 800 | invalidBankDetails | INV | DAT | Creation failed. IBAN not supported. | Contact the customer to request either a supported IBAN or if necessary new bank account details. |
| HostedPage | SPX 801 | invalidBankDetails | INV | DAT | Creation failed. Country code of IBAN not supported. | Contact the customer for an IBAN with a supported country code or if necessary new bank account details. |
| Generic | SPX 900 | validationFailed | INV | DAT | Validation failed. | Contact the customer to get valid data. |
| Generic | SPX 901 | invalidMerchant | ||||
| Generic | SPX 902 | invalidConnector | ||||
| Generic | SPX 904 | entityNotFound | INV | DAT | No entity was found that matches the specified id. | Contact your developer to specify a valid entity id. |
| Generic | SPX 908 | invalidUserBehaviour | INV | DAT | Invalid user behaviour. | Contact the user to investigate the invalid behaviour. |
| Generic | SPX 998 | processingProceeded | ||||
| Generic | SPX 999 | processingFailed | INV | DAT | ||
| RequestToPay | SPX 1003 | failedRequestToPay | AIS | ACT | RequestToPay failed. The process was cancelled by the customer. | Contact the customer and restart the requestToPay approval. |
| RequestToPay | SPX 1004 | missingApproval | INV | DAT | Creation failed. The requestToPay could not be created due to a missing or invalid approval. | Create a new requestToPay and contact customer to complete the PIS approval. |
| RequestToPay | SPX 1059 | requestToPayFailed |
Updated 6 months ago