This is the first in my series of educational articles connected to common issues encountered during Visanet processing. The first article is regarding Visanet Rejection situations.

Whilst the word "reject" is commonly used in day-to-day life, for Visanet processing it has a particular purpose, which is to signify that Visanet has rejected the processing of the message due to incorrect data.

Below, I am going to show one such scenario on the acquiring side of the processing. To help me do that I will be introducing the first 3 characters in a gang that will be helping me demonstrate some common real-life scenarios faced by cardholders, in a lighthearted and non-technical way.

Introducing Cardo and Swipey, our intrepid payment cards, who are always hopeful of an approval but don't always get one!

Cardo and Swipey - intrepid payment cards

Next, introducing Major Format, the enforcer of the technical specifications for processing!

Major Format - enforcer of technical specifications

Let's walk through the scenario

Swipey's first attempt didn't work, and he was kicked out of the ATM.

Major Format arrived with his clipboard showing VisaNet Reject Code 27 ("Invalid Track 2 data") as the cause. He reminded everyone to follow the technical specifications.

Cardo tried and succeeded.

Swipey tried again after the issue was fixed, and it worked. A happy ending.

Comic strip showing the scenario: Swipey's failed attempt, Major Format with reject code, Cardo's success, and Swipey's successful retry

While the scene is depicted in a lighthearted way, it's no fun for cardholders and it can be a serious problem for clients on both the acquiring and issuing sides. This issue is common, even among the largest clients.

Understanding the Impact

A reject on the acquiring side means the transaction fails at the first stage after the acquirer sends it to VisaNet. It never reaches the issuer host for authorization. Unlike Swipey's cartoon retry, there is no immediate fix and resubmit. VisaNet returns a reject code with the message that is rejected back to the source, and the acquirer cannot try again until the cardholder initiates a new attempt. In my experience, data-quality problems can persist for days, weeks, or even months (and sometimes years) until the acquirer corrects the message formatting.

The worst part is that cardholders cannot get their goods or cash. Satisfaction drops and the issuer's brand may take the blame, because cardholders usually do not realize the acquirer was at fault.

For a review of your host system for reject issues—or any other problems that cause cardholder declines— please contact Payment Authorization Expertise. We can identify root causes and fixes to ensure Flawless Transactions. Every Time.

Get in Touch →