For: Prommt account administrators and users managing payment requests.
If every payment on your account is failing — not just one — see [Troubleshooting: all payments failing on your account] instead. This article covers individual payment failures only.
Step 1 — Find the Payment Gateway Response
Every failed payment in Prommt carries a Payment Gateway Response — the reason for the failure as reported by your payment gateway. This is always the first thing to check.
Go to View Payments in your Prommt dashboard
Find the failed payment and click to open it
Look for the Payment Gateway Response field
The response text tells you exactly what went wrong. The sections below explain the most common responses and what to do for each.
Common failure reasons
"Do Not Honor" / "Declined"
What it means: The customer's bank has refused the transaction. This is the most generic decline code — the issuing bank is blocking the payment without giving a specific reason.
What to do:
Ask the customer to contact their bank directly. Banks often block high-value or unfamiliar transactions as a precaution — a quick call usually resolves it.
The customer can also try a different card if available.
This cannot be overridden by Prommt or your payment gateway.
Examples by sector:
Hospitality — a guest's bank blocks a large pre-arrival deposit as an unusual transaction
Automotive — a customer's card is declined on a finance deposit their bank hasn't seen before
Travel — a traveller's bank blocks a payment to a foreign merchant without prior notification
Leisure — a member's bank refuses a high-value annual membership renewal
"Insufficient Funds"
What it means: The card doesn't have enough available balance or credit to cover the payment amount.
What to do:
Let the customer know the payment couldn't be processed due to insufficient funds.
Ask them to use a different card or arrange an alternative payment method.
Examples by sector:
Hospitality — a guest's debit card doesn't have enough funds to cover a full-stay deposit
Automotive — a customer's card limit is too low for a vehicle deposit amount
Travel — a traveller's balance payment can't be processed ahead of departure
Leisure — a member's account is overdrawn when their renewal falls due
"Expired Card"
What it means: The card has passed its expiry date and can no longer process transactions.
What to do:
Ask the customer to use their updated card. Most banks issue replacement cards automatically — the customer may have a newer card they haven't tried yet.
Examples by sector:
Hospitality — a card stored from a booking made months earlier has since expired
Automotive — a customer's card expires between service booking and collection day
Travel — a long booking lead time means the card on file has expired before the balance is due
Leisure — a member's card expires mid-contract and the renewal attempt fails
"Authentication Failed" / "3D Secure Failed" / "SCA Required"
What it means: The customer didn't complete the security verification step required by their bank — typically a one-time code sent to their phone or an approval in their banking app. Prommt applies 3D Secure 2 on every card payment; it's the customer's bank that sends and verifies the challenge.
What to do:
Ask the customer to try again and make sure they complete the authentication step when prompted — don't close the browser or dismiss the app notification before approving.
If they're not receiving the code, they should contact their bank to confirm their mobile number is registered for 3DS alerts.
See [Understanding 3D Secure 2 and Strong Customer Authentication] for more detail.
Examples by sector:
Hospitality — a guest dismisses their banking app notification before approving the payment
Automotive — a customer doesn't receive the SMS code because their bank has an outdated mobile number
Travel — a traveller completes authentication but the session times out before payment is submitted
Leisure — a member's bank app requires an update before it can process authentication challenges
"Invalid Card Number" / "Card Not Found"
What it means: The card details entered at checkout don't match a valid card — usually a data entry error.
What to do:
Ask the customer to try again and double-check their card number, expiry date, and CVV.
If the issue persists, ask them to try a different card or browser.
"Transaction Not Permitted"
What it means: The card or gateway is not configured to allow this type of transaction. This can happen with certain card schemes (e.g. Diners Club, Amex, UnionPay) if they aren't enabled on your gateway.
What to do:
Ask the customer to try a different card — a standard Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card.
If this is happening repeatedly with a specific card type, contact your Prommt Account Manager to review your gateway configuration.
If the Payment Gateway Response is blank
A blank response means the transaction didn't reach the gateway at all — it failed before submission. This usually points to a connectivity issue between Prommt and your gateway, or the payment link expired before the customer completed checkout.
Check whether other payments are processing normally. If multiple payments are failing with no gateway response, see Troubleshooting: all payments failing on your account.
If the customer has already paid but the status still shows as failed
Before resending a payment request, confirm the status in View Payments. There can occasionally be a short delay between a successful payment and the status updating. If the status hasn't updated after a few minutes and the customer is certain they completed payment, contact Prommt Support with the Transaction ID — do not send a duplicate request until confirmed.
Troubleshooting
The customer says they paid but I can see the payment is still showing as failed. Wait a few minutes and refresh — there can be a brief delay between payment completion and status updating. If it still shows as failed, check the Payment Gateway Response for a specific failure reason before taking any action.
The customer tried again and it failed a second time. Check whether the same gateway response is showing on both attempts. If the response is the same, the underlying issue hasn't changed — work through the relevant section above before asking the customer to retry again.
I can't find the Payment Gateway Response on the failed payment. Go to View Payments, open the payment, and check the Transaction tab on the right-hand side panel. The gateway response is listed there. If the field is blank, see the section above on blank responses.