Should a recurring payment be retried after a soft or a hard decline?
A recurring payment can be retried after a soft decline, such as insufficient funds or a temporary issuer error, within scheme limits and at a better moment. It should not be retried after a hard decline, such as a closed account or a stolen card. Visa and Mastercard charge fees for retries beyond their limits.
In detail
The answer depends on the decline type. A soft decline is temporary, so a retry can succeed. A hard decline is final, so a retry only adds cost.
Soft declines: retry with a plan
- Typical reasons: insufficient funds, issuer unavailable, activity limit exceeded.
- Timing: wait, and choose a moment when funds are more likely, instead of retrying at once.
- Limits: Visa allows 20 reattempts in 30 days since May 2025. Mastercard applies fees beyond 10 retries in 24 hours or 35 in 30 days.
Hard declines: stop
Closed accounts, lost or stolen cards and "do not try again" advice codes mean the issuer will never approve. Retrying triggers scheme fees. The right action is to contact the customer for a new payment method, after checking whether an account updater has newer details.
A good dunning sequence combines both: updates first, then timed retries for soft declines, then a customer message. The decline families are explained in soft declines, and the recurring context in CIT vs MIT. Operators can define the sequence per decline reason in a retry policies matrix.