Authorization
11.2 Declined Authorization
Details
Visa reason code 11.2 is used when a merchant processes a transaction after receiving a decline response from the card issuer. Even if the customer insists on retrying or switching terminals, processing a charge after a decline—without obtaining a new valid approval—violates Visa’s rules and can result in a chargeback.
These disputes usually occur when a merchant misunderstands a decline code, retries without a fresh approval, or bypasses the system through offline/manual entry. Once a transaction is declined, it must not be reprocessed without proper reauthorization.
Timing to raise the dispute (Issuer/Cardholder)
Timing to respond to the dispute (Acquirer/Merchant)
How to respond?
If a valid authorization was obtained after the decline, submit documentation showing that a new approval was received:
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Provide the authorization code and timestamp for the approved transaction
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Include terminal logs showing the original decline and subsequent valid authorization
How to prevent?
Always obtain a fresh authorization approval before retrying a declined transaction:
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Train staff not to override declines or retry without new authorization
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Use systems that require new approval codes for every attempted transaction