Payments & Declines

Lost or Stolen Card

The issuer has marked the card as lost or stolen and blocked it.

Definition

What does "lost or stolen card" mean?

Lost or stolen card is a hard decline indicating the issuing bank has flagged the card as reported lost or stolen by the cardholder. All transactions on the card are permanently blocked to prevent unauthorized charges.

Impact on subscriptions

When a card is reported lost or stolen, the issuer immediately blocks it and issues a replacement with a new card number. Any subscription charges attempted on the old card will be declined. If the merchant does not have card account updater coverage or network tokens, the stored credentials become permanently invalid.

This decline is not recoverable through retries. The card is blocked at the issuer level and will never authorize another transaction.

Recovery strategy

The first option is automatic: if you have card account updater coverage, the new card details may be pushed to you automatically when the replacement is issued. Network tokens may also route to the new card seamlessly.

If automatic update is not available, a backup payment method is the next best option. Failing that, send a dunning notification explaining that the card on file is no longer active and the customer needs to provide updated payment information.

Related Terms

→ Dunning

→ Chargeback

→ MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I retry a lost or stolen card decline?

No. The card is permanently blocked by the issuer. Retrying will never succeed. Use card account updaters, network tokens, or a backup payment method instead.

Will card account updaters work for lost or stolen cards?

Often yes. When the issuer sends a replacement card, the new details are typically shared through the card account updater service, allowing automatic credential refresh.

How should I communicate this to the customer?

If automatic recovery fails, send a sensitive notification explaining their card on file is no longer active and asking them to update their payment method to continue their subscription.