What happens when an alert cannot be matched?
It stays in the table with a Pending or Not eligible status and all the data the network sent, so your team can investigate.
In detail
Most alerts are matched automatically to the original transaction, using the PSP ID, the ARN or card data. When none of those keys leads to a payment, the alert is not dropped. It stays in the alerts table with a Pending or Not eligible status, along with every piece of data the network sent.
That keeps the case visible and workable. Your team can search for the payment using the information received, check whether the transaction ran on another account or provider, and decide what to do next. A Pending alert also shows that the case may still be resolved, while Not eligible makes clear that it falls outside the conditions for automatic handling.
Why it matters
- Nothing disappears silently: every alert received is accounted for.
- Investigators start from the full network data rather than a summary.
- Status filters let you review open cases across all the merchants you cover.
Unmatched alerts are often the most useful signal in the table. A recurring pattern can point to a gap in the data a merchant sends, a descriptor that cardholders do not recognize, or a flow that runs outside the accounts where alerts are active. Reviewing them regularly helps you close those gaps and keep more disputes from turning into chargebacks.