Card declines & risk rules

Why Whop Card transactions get declined and the risk rules applied during authorization

Whop Cards apply system rules, card limits, and real-time risk checks to every authorization. This page explains why Whop may decline a card transaction, which authorization codes you may encounter, and which automatic risk rules it enforces.

Common transaction decline reasons

Declines can occur for several reasons, including system rules, card limits, and real-time risk checks. When Whop declines a transaction, it records a reason with the transaction.

This list isn’t exhaustive. Some declines originate at the card network or processor rather than from a Whop rule, and these take precedence. In those cases, the reason may be a generic description such as restricted card, or Whop may not receive a reason.

What you can do about a decline

Many declines represent outcomes you can act on. The following table maps common reasons to their cause and your next step:

Decline reason	What it means	What you can do
card spending limit exceeded	The transaction reached the card’s configured spending limit	Review or adjust the card’s spending controls
account credit limit exceeded	Insufficient available balance for the transaction	Add funds to your balance before retrying
card locked / card canceled / card not activated	The card isn’t active	Manage the card’s status (activate or unlock as appropriate)
invalid pin attempt limit exceeded	Too many incorrect personal identification number attempts. The system automatically locks the card	Unlock the card to restore access, or contact Whop support
transaction declined by risk rules	The fraud risk scoring engine declined the authorization	Contact Whop support if you believe the engine declined a transaction in error
restricted country	The transaction originated in a restricted or sanctioned jurisdiction	These declines follow compliance policy, and you can’t override them

A few additional defaults worth noting:

• Automatic teller machine withdrawals are unavailable by default.
• Whop restricts quasi-cash and certain money-transfer categories by default.
• 3D Secure (3DS): a failed 3DS verification can result in a decline.
• Address Verification Service (AVS): Whop supports this service and lets you configure it per card. Mismatches can contribute to a decline.

Authorization codes and their meanings

Whop Cards use specific authorization codes to classify the context and status of each transaction. Here are some commonly encountered codes:

Code	Meaning
00	Normal presentment
01	Customer not present
02	Unattended terminal - terminal can retain card
03	Merchant suspicious
05	Customer present, card not present
06	Pre-authorized request
07	Telephone device required
08	Mail/telephone order
09	POS security alert
10	Customer identity verified
11	Suspicious Activity
12	Security reasons
13	Representation of item
14	Public utility terminal
15	Customer’s terminal
16	Administrative terminal
17	Returned item
18	No check in envelope - return
19	Deposit out of balance - return
20	Payment out of balance - return
21	Manual reversal
22	Terminal error - counted
23	Terminal error - not counted
24	Deposit out of balance - apply
25	Payment out of balance - apply
26	Withdrawal error - reversed
27	Unattended terminal - terminal can’t retain card
51	Request for account number verification
59	E-commerce request through public network
71	Card present, magnetic stripe unreadable (U.S. only)

Risk rules enforced during authorization

Whop Cards enforce automatic risk detection rules to prevent high-risk or suspicious transactions. Each rule includes a time window and trigger threshold:

Rule name	Description	Time window	Trigger threshold
Blocked Country	Decline all transactions at blocked countries	Immediate	N/A
High Risk MCC	Decline transactions with high-risk merchant category codes	Immediate	N/A
High Risk E-commerce	Decline transactions with flagged online merchants	Immediate	N/A
E-commerce Rapid Transaction	Prevent an e-commerce transaction burst when someone attempts more than 2 transactions within a 5-minute period	5 Minutes	2 Transactions
Card-present Rapid Transaction	Prevent a card-present transaction burst when someone attempts more than 2 transactions within a 5-minute period	5 Minutes	2 Transactions
Card-not-present Daily Velocity	Card-not-present transaction daily limit reached, more than 11 card-not-present transactions attempted within a 24-hour period	24 Hours	11 Transactions
Card-Merchant Daily Velocity	Decline transactions between the same card and merchant when more than 200 transactions occur within a 24-hour period. Surfaces as transaction declined by risk rules	24 Hours	200 Transactions
Card-Merchant Authentication 15min Burst Velocity	Decline Google temporary-hold (authentication) charges when the same card and merchant exceed 20 transactions within a 14-minute window	14 Minutes	20 Transactions
AFD Auth Hold	Place fuel (MCC 5542) authorizations below $175 on an over-authorization hold rather than declining them	Immediate	$175 USD
Gaming Limit	Decline a single video game or digital goods (MCC 5816/7994) transaction that exceeds $2,000	Immediate	$2,000 USD
Gaming Velocity	Decline if more than 25 gaming transactions within a 2-day period	2 Days	25 Transactions
Ad Services Limit	Decline a single advertising services (MCC 7311) transaction that exceeds $10,000	Immediate	$10,000 USD
Ad Services Velocity	Decline more than 40 advertising services (MCC 7311) transactions within a 24-hour period	24 Hours	40 Transactions
Adult Content Limit	Decline a single adult content (MCC 5967) transaction that exceeds $200	Immediate	$200 USD
Adult Content Velocity	Decline more than 10 adult content (MCC 5967) transactions within a 24-hour period	24 Hours	10 Transactions
CVV Security	Block a transaction after 4 incorrect card verification value attempts within a 24-hour period	24 Hours	4 Transactions
ATM Withdrawal Limit	Block an automated teller machine withdrawal (MCC 6011) transaction that exceeds $250	Immediate	$250 USD
ATM Withdrawal Velocity	Block an automated teller machine withdrawal (MCC 6011) after someone attempts more than 3 transactions within a 24-hour period	24 Hours	3 Transactions
High Velocity – EA Sports FC	Decline when more than 5 transactions with the same card at Google EA Sports FC occur within a 24-hour period	24 Hours	5 Transactions
High Velocity – Discord	Decline when more than 10 transactions with the same card at Discord merchants occur within a 7-day period	7 Days	10 Transactions
High Velocity – Free Fire MAX	Decline when more than 10 transactions with the same card at Google Free Fire MAX occur within a 24-hour period	24 Hours	10 Transactions

The table shows default thresholds. Whop may update them over time as risk rules change.

Alongside these rules, a fraud risk engine scores transactions. Whop declines high-risk authorizations with transaction_declined_by_risk_rules.

Blocked categories and merchants

Whop Cards block certain merchant category codes and specific merchants by default. See Blocked categories & merchants for the full lists.

Next steps

Blocked categories & merchants

See the merchant categories and merchants that Whop Cards block by default

Whop Cards

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