Chargeback reason codes

Q: Which codes hit subscription businesses hardest?

Four do most of the damage: Visa 10.4 and Mastercard 4837 for charges the customer didn't recognize, Visa 13.2 and Mastercard 4841 for billing after a cancellation. If you run free trials, add Visa 13.5 for misrepresented terms. Together these cover the large majority of recurring billing disputes.

Q: Is Visa 12.1 still a valid code?

No. Visa retired 12.1 Late Presentment on 12 April 2024 and folded it into 11.3, which is now called No Authorization / Late Presentment. Several public reason code libraries still list 12.1 as current, so check the date on any reference you use.

Q: Can a prevention alert stop every reason code?

No, and any tool that says otherwise is overselling. Alerts fire when a cardholder contacts their bank, so they catch fraud and consumer dispute codes. Processing errors and authorization codes usually reach you without a customer call first, so no alert is triggered. Those need a fix in your billing system, not a refund.

Q: Does the reason code change what a chargeback costs me?

No. Your processor's fee is the same whichever code you get. What the code changes is what you can do about it: some are preventable at the alert stage, some are a bug in your billing, and some are neither.

Q: Does winning a dispute remove it from my ratio?

No. A chargeback you fight and win still counts toward your VAMP ratio and your acquirer's portfolio number. That is why the prevention column on this page matters more than the evidence list you will find elsewhere.

Every Visa and Mastercard code in plain language: what the customer told their bank, whether an alert can stop it, and what to fix so it stops coming back. Filter to the codes that hit subscription billing hardest and fix those first. American Express keeps its own list, covered in the Amex code guide.

40 codes · Visa and Mastercard · last reviewed August 2026

[ the basics ]

A reason code is the bank's version of what happened

When a customer disputes a charge, their bank picks a code to say why. That code is the bank's reading of the complaint, not yours, and it's the fastest way to work out what actually went wrong on your side.

The first number is the family. The decimal is the specific claim. Read the family and you already know whether this was fraud, a billing bug, or an unhappy customer.

13the familyConsumer dispute.2the claimCanceled recurring

What the customer told their bank

“I canceled this and they charged me again.”

One customer, one complaint

“I canceled and you billed me anyway.”

13.2Canceled Recurring Transaction

4841Canceled Recurring or Digital Goods

Same fix on your side. Two numbers to look up.

[ two networks ]

The same complaint arrives with two different numbers

Visa and Mastercard run separate systems. An identical customer complaint files as 13.2 on Visa and 4841 on Mastercard, so the same billing problem shows up twice in your reports under names that look unrelated.

That's why the codes below are filterable by network. Fix the cause once and both numbers fall together.

40 of 40 codes

What it meansA counterfeit card was used in person, and the terminal couldn't read its chip.
What causes itThe terminal wasn't chip-enabled. The chip was bypassed and the magnetic stripe swiped instead.
How to respondShow the chip was actually read. If the terminal couldn't read chips, these are very hard to win.
How to prevent itOnly affects card-present sales. If you take payments online, you'll never see this.

What it means: The cardholder says they didn't authorize a charge made online, in an app or over the phone.
What causes it: Stolen card details. A rebill nobody recognized. A family member using the card. A customer who forgot they signed up.
Why subscription businesses get it: For subscriptions this is usually not real fraud. It's a rebill the customer didn't recognize, so they called it fraud instead of canceling. It also generates a fraud report, so it can count twice in your VAMP ratio.
How to respond: Send the AVS and CVV match results, the device and IP used, login or usage records, and any earlier orders from the same customer that were never disputed. This is the only code where Compelling Evidence 3.0 applies.
How to prevent it: Fix your billing descriptor first, then send a renewal reminder before each rebill. This is the only code eligible for Compelling Evidence 3.0.

Read the full Visa 10.4 guide

What it meansThe bank declined the charge and it was put through anyway.
What causes itA retry after a hard decline. A manual override. Dunning logic that keeps trying a dead card.
Why subscription businesses get itCommon in subscriptions when dunning logic retries a hard decline, or when a failed rebill is forced through manually.
How to respondSend an approval code. If there isn't one, this is not winnable.
How to prevent itNever retry a hard decline. Treat 'do not honour' as final and ask the customer for a new card.

What it means: You charged without a valid approval, or you submitted the charge too late.
What causes it: An authorization that expired before settlement. A rebill run against an old approval. Settlement delayed past the window.
Why subscription businesses get it: Subscription billing engines hit this when an authorization expires before the charge is settled, or a retry runs against a stale approval.
How to respond: Send the approval code and show the settlement date fell inside the window.
How to prevent it: Settle inside the authorization window and re-authorize on every rebill rather than reusing an old approval.

Absorbed 12.1 Late Presentment for transactions completed on or after 13 April 2024.

Read the full Visa 11.3 guide

What it meansThe customer says the amount on their statement is not what they agreed to.
What causes itA price rise applied without notice. Proration after a plan change. Tax or fees added at renewal. An adjustment made after the sale.
Why subscription businesses get itSubscriptions trigger this on price rises, proration after a plan change, or tax added at renewal that wasn't in the original quote.
How to respondSend the order confirmation, an itemised invoice, and proof the customer accepted that amount.
How to prevent itEmail before any price change takes effect, and show proration on the invoice rather than only the new total.

What it means: The customer was charged twice for one purchase, or had already paid another way.
What causes it: A billing job that ran twice. A webhook retry that created a second charge. A customer who resubscribed while still active. A bill already settled by other means.
Why subscription businesses get it: A rebill that ran twice after a webhook retry, or a customer who resubscribed while the original subscription was still active.
How to respond: Show the two charges were for different things. If it really is a duplicate, refund it and close the case.
How to prevent it: Make billing runs idempotent and check for an active subscription before creating a second one.

Splits into 12.6.1 Duplicate Processing and 12.6.2 Paid by Other Means.

What it means: The customer paid and says they never received what they bought.
What causes it: Access was never switched on. Delivery failed or ran late. The account was suspended while still being billed. An outage at the time of purchase.
Why subscription businesses get it: For software and memberships this usually means access was never provisioned, or it was revoked while the customer was still paying.
How to respond: Send proof of delivery or proof of access: tracking, activation timestamps, login records.
How to prevent it: Confirm provisioning in the same flow as the payment, and alert on any account that pays without gaining access.

Read the full Visa 13.1 guide

What it means: The customer says they canceled the subscription and were charged again anyway.
What causes it: A cancellation request that was never actioned. One more rebill after the cancel. A cancellation emailed to an inbox nobody reads. A notice period the customer didn't know about.
Why subscription businesses get it: The classic pattern: the customer canceled, one more rebill escaped, and the dispute reached the bank before your refund did. Also fires when a cancellation request was never processed because it went to an unmonitored inbox.
How to respond: Send the date the cancellation was received, the terms the customer agreed to, and proof the charge came before the cancellation took effect.
How to prevent it: Make canceling self-serve and instant. Stop billing the moment the request lands, not at the end of the cycle, and send written confirmation the customer can show their bank.

Read the full Visa 13.2 guide

What it meansThe customer says what they got wasn't what was advertised, or it didn't work.
What causes itFeatures removed after purchase. Downtime. Marketing claims ahead of what the product does. Goods damaged in transit.
Why subscription businesses get itApplies to software and digital services as much as physical goods. Feature removals and downtime both land here.
How to respondSend the description exactly as it stood when they bought, proof of what was delivered, and any fix or refund you offered.
How to prevent itKeep your marketing claims and your actual feature set in sync, and archive your pricing page so you can show what was promised.

What it means: The customer says the terms weren't what they were led to believe.
What causes it: Trial terms buried in small print. A conversion price the customer didn't expect. A renewal charged with no reminder.
Why subscription businesses get it: This is the free-trial code. A $1 trial converting to $49 gets disputed here when the terms weren't obvious at signup. If you run trials, watch this one closely.
How to respond: Send the signup screen showing the price and renewal terms, and the reminder you sent before charging.
How to prevent it: Put the conversion price, the date and the cancellation method on the signup screen itself, not behind a terms link, and email the same details before the trial converts.

Read the full Visa 13.5 guide

What it means: You agreed to a refund and the customer never got it.
What causes it: A refund approved in your support tool but never issued. A refund so slow the customer gave up. A refund sent to a closed card.
Why subscription businesses get it: Usually a refund that was approved in your support tool but never actually issued, or one issued so slowly the customer gave up waiting.
How to respond: Send the refund transaction record with its date and reference number.
How to prevent it: Issue refunds the day you agree to them and send the confirmation immediately. A refund in progress still gets disputed if the customer can't see it.

Read the full Visa 13.6 guide

What it means: The customer canceled an order or service and was charged anyway.
What causes it: A cancellation that was never actioned. A charge that went out after the cancellation date.
Why subscription businesses get it: Close cousin of 13.2. This one covers a canceled order or service rather than the recurring agreement itself.
How to respond: Send your cancellation terms and proof of when the cancellation was received.
How to prevent it: Same fix as 13.2: instant cancellation, written confirmation, and stop billing on the request date.

Read the full Visa 13.7 guide

What it means: The charge didn't have the approval it needed, or the approval had already expired.
What causes it: Charging after a decline. An authorization that timed out. Too many authorization attempts on one card.
Why subscription businesses get it: The Mastercard equivalent of Visa 11.2 and 11.3. Subscription retries against a stale or declined approval land here.
How to respond: Send the approval code and the date it was obtained.
How to prevent it: Re-authorize on every rebill and never force a hard decline through.

Consolidated 4807, 4812 and 4847.

What it means: Something was mechanically wrong: charged twice, the wrong amount, or already paid another way.
What causes it: A billing run that fired twice. An amount changed after authorization. A charge submitted late.
Why subscription businesses get it: Mastercard's umbrella for the mechanical errors Visa splits across 12.5 and 12.6. Duplicate rebills land here.
How to respond: Send transaction records showing the charge was correct. If it was a duplicate, refund it and close the case.
How to prevent it: Make your billing runs idempotent and reconcile against a single subscription record.

Consolidated 4831, 4842 and 4846.

What it means: The customer says they didn't authorize the charge at all.
What causes it: Stolen card details. A rebill nobody recognized. A family member using the card.
Why subscription businesses get it: The direct equivalent of Visa 10.4, and it behaves the same way for subscriptions: an unrecognized rebill reported as fraud.
How to respond: Send AVS and CVV results, device and IP data, and any earlier orders from the same customer that were never disputed.
How to prevent it: Fix the descriptor and remind before renewal. Ethoca alerts cover this on the Mastercard side.

Read the full Mastercard 4837 guide

What it means: The customer says they canceled and were billed anyway.
What causes it: A cancellation never actioned. A rebill after the cancel date. Digital goods bought without proper consent controls.
Why subscription businesses get it: Mastercard's subscription code, the counterpart to Visa 13.2. It also covers digital goods bought without proper consent controls.
How to respond: Send the cancellation date, the terms the customer agreed to, and proof the charge came first.
How to prevent it: Instant self-serve cancellation, confirmation in writing, and stop billing on the request date.

Read the full Mastercard 4841 guide

What it means: The customer is disputing one payment inside an instalment plan.
What causes it: An instalment taken after the plan was canceled. A schedule the customer didn't understand.
Why subscription businesses get it: Applies where you split a price across scheduled payments rather than billing a recurring subscription.
How to respond: Send the instalment schedule the customer agreed to at purchase.
How to prevent it: Show the full schedule at purchase and remind before each instalment.

Region-specific.

What it means: The customer is unhappy with what they got: not as described, defective, or not what was agreed.
What causes it: Features that changed after purchase. Trial terms that weren't clear. A service that didn't match the claims.
Why subscription businesses get it: Mastercard routes most service complaints here, including misrepresented trial terms that Visa would file under 13.5.
How to respond: Send the description as it stood at purchase, proof of delivery or access, and any resolution you offered.
How to prevent it: Make trial terms and renewal pricing explicit at signup, and keep marketing claims current.

Read the full Mastercard 4853 guide

What it meansThe customer paid and never received what they bought.
What causes itAccess never switched on. Delivery never made. A service withdrawn while still billing.
Why subscription businesses get itFor subscriptions this is access that was never provisioned, or was cut off while the customer was still being billed.
How to respondSend proof of delivery or access, with timestamps.
How to prevent itTie provisioning to the payment event and monitor for paying accounts without access.

What it meansYou agreed to a refund and it never arrived.
What causes itA refund approved but never issued. A refund that stalled in a queue.
Why subscription businesses get itThe Mastercard counterpart to Visa 13.6. A promised refund that stalled in your support queue.
How to respondSend the refund record with its date and reference number.
How to prevent itIssue refunds the same day you agree to them and confirm in writing straight away.

What it means: The customer doesn't recognize the charge on their statement. This is not a fraud claim.
What causes it: A billing descriptor that doesn't match your brand. A parent company name on the statement. A trial they forgot about.
Why subscription businesses get it: The purest descriptor problem on this list. The customer isn't disputing the purchase, they can't tell who charged them.
How to respond: Send order details that help the bank identify the purchase: what was bought, when, and the descriptor that appeared.
How to prevent it: Put your brand name and a support contact in the billing descriptor. This code is almost entirely preventable.

Read the full Mastercard 4863 guide

[ how to read one ]

The category tells you what went wrong

Visa sorts every dispute into four families. The first number is the one that matters, because it names the root cause.

Fraud

The cardholder says they never authorized it.

Authorization

Something went wrong at the approval step.

Processing

The transaction was technically mishandled.

Consumer dispute

A complaint about the goods or the service.

Mastercard works differently. It consolidated dozens of older codes into a handful of umbrella ones, so a single code like 4853 covers what Visa splits across several. The mapping is in each Mastercard entry above.

[ the short list ]

Four codes do most of the damage

20 of the 40 codes here can land on a subscription business. In practice a handful account for most of the volume, and they split into two problems.

Either the customer didn't recognize the charge, or they canceled and you billed them anyway. Both are fixable before the dispute is filed.

Book a call

10.4They didn't recognize the chargedescriptor

4837Same problem, Mastercard sidedescriptor

13.2Canceled, billed anywaycancellation

4841Canceled, billed anywaycancellation

Two fixes cover all four: a descriptor customers recognize, and a cancellation that takes effect the moment they ask.

Winning the dispute doesn't remove the code

Most reason code libraries tell you which evidence wins each case. Useful, but a chargeback you fight and win still counts in your VAMP ratio and in your acquirer's portfolio number. That is why every entry here leads with prevention instead.

[ the deep guides ]

The codes that hit subscriptions, taken seriously

A full guide for each code that matters to recurring billing: what it means, the evidence that wins it, and whether an alert can stop it.

alerts stop italerts help, with limitsalerts can't

10.4Other Fraud, Card Absent“I didn't make this charge.”Read the guide

11.3No AuthorizationThe processing mistake code.Read the guide

13.1Not ReceivedPaid, but never got it.Read the guide

13.2Canceled RecurringThe subscription chargeback.Read the guide

13.5MisrepresentationThe free-trial dispute.Read the guide

13.6Credit Not ProcessedThe refund that came too slow.Read the guide

13.7Canceled MerchandiseCanceled the order, still charged.Read the guide

4837No AuthorizationThe firm fraud claim.Read the guide

4841Canceled RecurringMastercard's subscription code.Read the guide

4853Cardholder DisputeMastercard's umbrella code.Read the guide

4863Does Not RecognizeThe descriptor failure code.Read the guide

[ codes faq ]

Straight answers

What the codes mean, and what they don't.

Seeing the same code every month? Book a call

What is a chargeback reason code?

The label a customer's bank puts on a dispute to say why it happened. Visa uses a number like 13.2, Mastercard uses four digits like 4841. The code tells you what the customer claimed, which is the fastest way to work out what went wrong on your side.

Which codes hit subscription businesses hardest?

Is Visa 12.1 still a valid code?

Can a prevention alert stop every reason code?

Does the reason code change what a chargeback costs me?

Does winning a dispute remove it from my ratio?

Stop looking up codes. Stop getting them.

Disputeless catches disputes at the alert stage, then tells you which code they came from and why.

Book a call Check your VAMP ratio

More free tools: the descriptor checker, the VAMP calculator, the chargeback cost calculator, and the rest of the free tools.

Visa codes and names follow Visa's Dispute Management Guidelines for Visa Merchants, June 2024. Mastercard codes reflect its consolidated dispute framework. Last reviewed August 2026. Card networks change these: confirm anything you're acting on with your acquirer.