Decline code
Lost card: what it means and what to do
The card was reported lost. What Stripe says, why the customer shouldn’t be told the reason, and how Dunity handles it.
- $29/month, flat
- Cancel anytime
- Restricted Stripe key only
What it means
Stripe returns lost_card when the payment was declined because the card has been reported lost.
Stripe’s guidance is not to tell the customer the specific reason. Present it the same way as generic_decline, with a message that the payment didn’t go through.
From Stripe’s decline codes and card declines docs.
Should you retry it?
It is on Stripe’s list of hard declines, so Stripe can’t retry it automatically without a new payment method. Further attempts on the same card keep failing.
From Stripe’s Smart Retries and card declines docs.
What to do about it
What the customer needs to do
- Use a different card.
What you can do
- Don’t say the card was reported lost. Use the same wording you would for any failed payment.
- Ask for a new payment method through a page where the customer can add one.
What Dunity does
- Dunity records the decline code and emails your customer once. The default email says only that the payment didn’t go through and links to a page to update their card. None of its merge tags carries the decline reason, so Dunity never adds it.
- Dunity stops retrying as soon as a retry comes back with a hard decline like this one. Its first retry still runs (24 hours after the failure by default), and if that one fails this way the payment is marked Failed and no more attempts are made. The link in your email still works for the customer.
- The dashboard files it under “Unrecoverable”.
What Dunity does is read from its code, not assumed. The whole flow is on how Dunity works, and every code is on the decline codes hub.
Related decline codes
Lost card questions
What people ask about this code.
Should I tell my customer their card was reported lost?
No. Stripe says the specific reason for a lost_card decline shouldn’t be reported to the customer, and to present it as a generic decline. Dunity’s default email doesn’t give a reason.
Does Dunity stop retrying a lost card?
Yes. After the first retry that comes back as a hard decline, Dunity marks the payment Failed and makes no more attempts. The customer can still use the link in your email to add a new card.