Recommendation code testing

Last updated: July 18, 2024

Card schemes provide you with additional information on how and when you should retry a transaction through recommendation codes.

You can simulate recommendation code responses to test your integration is working as expected.

To test the various outcomes, set up a new payment request and:

Set the source.number field to any of the following numbers, depending on which card scheme you are testing:
- use 4659105569051157 for Visa
- use 5105105105105100 for Mastercard
- alternatively, you can use any other of our test cards.
Set the source.cvv field to 100.
Set the amount field to one of the values from the following table, depending on the outcome you want to test for.

Recommendation code outcome	Recommendation reason	amount value
`01`	expired card updated information available authentication may improve likelihood of an approval	`8105`
`02`	over credit limit insufficient funds credit risk decline issuer velocity rule decline blocked card	`8205`
`03`	account closed suspected fraud recurring agreement canceled	`8305`


1{
2  "source": {
3    "type": "card",
4    "number": "4659105569051157",
5    "cvv": "100",
6    "expiry_month": 1,
7    "expiry_year": 2025
8  },
9  "currency": "EUR",
10  "amount": 8105,
11  "processing_channel_id": "pc_dkgoofpvuwuerekvd4ssr6jwom"
12}

Regardless of the amount value used, the response will contain a response_code indicating a soft decline (20xxx). See soft decline codes.


1{
2  "id": "pay_ifj764it4t3epgsnbgnmjqhkne",
3  "action_id": "act_gy64ocao67ferkltfbrgq2qr24",
4  "amount": 8105,
5  "currency": "EUR",
6  "approved": false,
7  "status": "Declined",
8  "auth_code": "961080",
9  "response_code": "20020",
10  "response_summary": "Invalid Response",
11  "risk": {
12    "flagged": false,
13    "score": 0.0
14  },
15  "source": {
16    "id": "src_qoqpjcdwmuqezpopxrhnoncgoa",
17    "type": "card",
18    "expiry_month": 1,
19    "expiry_year": 2025,
20    "scheme": "Visa",
21    "last4": "1157",
22    "fingerprint": "B0392514A7C52F5CEE996BEB05431245ADAF4B31917E5C7577E213E264EF60A9",
23    "bin": "424242",
24    "card_type": "CREDIT",
25    "card_category": "CONSUMER",
26    "issuer_country": "GB",
27    "product_id": "F",
28    "product_type": "Visa Classic",
29    "avs_check": "G",
30    "cvv_check": "Y",
31    "payment_account_reference": "V001161191215476252"
32  },
33  "processed_on": "2023-08-09T09:51:24.5437329Z",
34  "scheme_id": "885866251672298",
35  "processing": {
36    "acquirer_transaction_id": "806400184135498107867",
37    "retrieval_reference_number": "191666272529",
38    "recommendation_code": "01",
39    "merchant_category_code": "0742",
40    "scheme_merchant_id": "50777",
41    "aft": false
42  },
43  "_links": {
44    "self": {
45      "href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_ifj764it4t3epgsnbgnmjqhkne"
46    },
47    "actions": {
48      "href": "https://api.sandbox.checkout.com/payments/pay_ifj764it4t3epgsnbgnmjqhkne/actions"
49    }
50  }
51}

Recommendation code testing

Request example

Response example