Card decline rate shows how often banks refuse the card payments you send them.

It matters because each decline is a sale, a renewal or a trial that may not happen.

When you charge a card, the request goes to the bank that issued it, and that bank approves or declines it. A decline at checkout loses a sale on the spot. A decline on a renewal starts a failed payment you then have to chase.

A rising decline rate can also be a warning sign. A burst of small declined charges on a signup form can mean someone is testing stolen card numbers on it.

Declines come in two kinds, and each needs a different fix.

• Soft declines. The bank refuses this attempt, but the card still works: not enough funds today, a limit reached, or a payment the bank wants the cardholder to confirm. A later retry may go through.
• Hard declines. The card cannot be charged at all: it is closed, reported lost or stolen, or the number is wrong. Retrying will not help, and the customer needs to give you another card.

Divide declined attempts by all attempts.

card decline rate = declined payment attempts ÷ payment attempts × 100
approval rate = 100% − card decline rate

Decide whether you count attempts or payments. Counting attempts includes every retry, which shows how hard you are pushing on failing cards. Counting payments shows how many charges ended up declined. Track both, split by decline reason.

You lower it by sending banks charges they have reason to approve.

• Check the card while the customer is there. At signup, the customer can fix a typo or confirm a payment their bank asks about. Weeks later, nobody is there to do it.
• Keep card details up to date. Card updater services replace expired and reissued cards before you charge them.
• Retry soft declines and stop on hard ones. Retrying a closed card only adds declines. Retry insufficient funds later, and ask for a new card after a hard decline.
• Stop card testing on your forms. Rate limits and a bot check on the signup form keep stolen card numbers from being tried there.

1Capture's trial pages authorize the full first payment while the customer is still on the page. If the bank declines, the customer sees it at once and can try another card, and a card that cannot cover the price never starts a trial. The payment capture page explains how that check works.

These mistakes make the decline rate misleading.

• Counting retries without saying so. One renewal retried five times can add five declines. Report attempts and unique payments separately.
• Treating every decline the same. An expired card and a card reported stolen call for different actions.
• Blending signups and renewals. Declines on new signups can be fraud attempts or customers who gave up. Look at them apart from renewals.