A
American Express Network Decline CodesAmex 116
Not Sufficient Funds
Soft Decline
Temporary failures that may succeed on retry
Retryable
This decline may succeed on retry
Description
The cardholder's account does not have sufficient funds to complete the transaction.
Recommended Action
Retry after a delay. The cardholder may need time to replenish their account.
Common Causes
- Insufficient funds or available credit
- Pending transactions holding available balance
- Account near its credit limit
Recovery Tips
- Retry around common pay cycle dates (1st, 15th of the month)
- Use an intelligent retry schedule with exponential backoff
- Notify the customer so they can add funds or make a payment
Quick Reference
Code
116
Category
Soft Decline
Retryable
Yes
Source
Amex
Related Decline Codes
100Retryable
Deny
The transaction has been declined by the card issuer for policy reasons. No specific reason is provided.
119Retryable
Card Member Not Enrolled
The card issuer has declined the transaction because the requested service is not enabled for the cardholder. This can apply to 3DS authentication or address verification requests.
121Retryable
Limit Exceeded
The cardholder has exceeded their card usage frequency limit.
130Retryable
Additional Customer Identification Required
The card issuer has soft-declined the transaction and is requesting additional authentication from the cardholder.
Amex 116 recovery
Recover more payments like Amex 116
Slicker handles codes like 116 by combining decline reason, issuer behavior, BIN data, and timing signals to choose the next best recovery action.
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