C
Checkout.comCheckout 20005
Declined - Do Not Honour
Soft Decline
Temporary failures that may succeed on retry
Retryable
This decline may succeed on retry
Description
The issuer has declined the transaction without providing a specific reason. This is the most common decline code and covers a wide range of issuer-side rejections.
Recommended Action
Retry with exponential backoff. If repeated failures occur, ask the customer to contact their bank or use a different card.
Common Causes
- Failed CVV or Address Verification Service (AVS) checks
- Bank's internal fraud rules flagged the transaction
- Temporary hold placed on the customer's card
- Multiple declined attempts triggered a purchase session lock
- Seller and issuer located in different countries
Recovery Tips
- Retry after a few hours — the hold may be temporary
- Send a dunning email asking the customer to contact their bank
- Request the customer try a different payment card
- Consider adding 3D Secure authentication to improve approval rates
Quick Reference
Code
20005
Category
Soft Decline
Retryable
Yes
Source
Checkout
Recoverability verdict
This is a soft decline. This revenue is often recoverable.
Payments failing with code 20005 are often recoverable with the right retry timing and routing. Slicker recovers up to 70% of soft declines with smart retries.
Related Decline Codes
20001Retryable
Refer to Card Issuer
The issuer has declined the transaction and asks the cardholder to contact them. This is a generic referral response.
20002Retryable
Refer to Card Issuer - Special Conditions
The issuer has declined the transaction under special conditions. The cardholder should contact their bank.
20009Retryable
Request in Progress
The transaction is currently being processed. A duplicate request may have been submitted.
20015Retryable
No Such Issuer
The card cannot be processed through the debit network. The transaction should be routed to the card's signature network instead.