Understanding Common Credit Card Processing Errors

What This Is

When processing a credit card payment, you may occasionally receive an error message instead of a successful charge.

These errors are returned directly by the customer's card issuer or bank and typically indicate that the payment could not be authorized.

This article explains two common payment errors you may encounter and what they mean.


Error: CARDHOLDER_INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSIONS

What It Means

This error indicates that the cardholder's bank has restricted the card from being used for this type of transaction.

The card itself may be valid, but it does not have permission to complete the payment being attempted.


Common Causes

  • The card has spending restrictions enabled
  • The card is locked or temporarily disabled
  • The card does not allow online transactions
  • The card does not allow card-not-present transactions
  • The bank has flagged the transaction as unusual activity
  • A prepaid or business card has usage limitations

Recommended Next Steps

Ask the customer to:

  • Contact their bank or card issuer
  • Verify that online purchases are enabled
  • Confirm there are no restrictions on the card
  • Try a different payment method if available

Since the restriction is controlled by the card issuer, BRS cannot override or remove the limitation.


Error: TRANSACTION_LIMIT

What It Means

This error indicates that the transaction exceeded a limit set by the customer's bank or card issuer.

The card has reached a spending threshold and the bank declined the charge.


Common Causes

  • Daily spending limit exceeded
  • Per-transaction limit exceeded
  • Monthly card limit reached
  • Business card spending controls
  • Fraud prevention limits imposed by the bank

Example

If a customer has a $1,000 transaction limit and attempts to pay $1,500, the bank may decline the payment and return a TRANSACTION_LIMIT error.


Recommended Next Steps

Ask the customer to:

  • Contact their bank to increase the transaction limit
  • Verify available spending limits
  • Use another payment method
  • Split the payment if appropriate for your business process

Only the customer's bank can adjust card spending limits.


Important Notes

These Errors Do Not Usually Indicate a Problem with BRS

Both CARDHOLDER_INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSIONS and TRANSACTION_LIMIT are typically returned by the customer's financial institution.


In most cases:

  • The payment processor is working correctly
  • The card was successfully submitted
  • The bank declined the transaction
  • Verify the Exact Error Message

Before troubleshooting, confirm the specific error shown in the order or payment response.

Different decline codes often require different solutions.


When to Contact Support

Contact BRS Support if:

  • Multiple customers are receiving the same error unexpectedly
  • You suspect a payment processor configuration issue
  • The error appears inconsistent with the customer's bank feedback

When contacting support, include:

  • The order number
  • The exact error message
  • The date and time of the attempted transaction
  • Screenshots if available

This information helps the team investigate more efficiently.


Additional Recommendations

If a payment fails with either of these errors, the fastest resolution is usually for the customer to contact their bank directly.

Banks can see the specific reason for the decline and can often resolve the issue immediately, while BRS and payment processors typically only receive the decline code returned by the issuer.