Visa Payment Decline Code
Visa Decline Code 02: Refer to Card Issuer, Special Condition
Category General DeclineRetry Guidance Conditional Decline (Editorial Classification)By Payment Defender Editorial TeamUpdated July 17, 2026Last reviewed July 17, 2026
What Visa Decline Code 02 Means
Visa response code 02 is a referral response similar to code 01 but tied to a special issuer condition. The issuer wants the cardholder to contact the bank under specific circumstances before approval.
Where the Response May Come From
This Visa response comes from the issuing bank's authorization systems, and reflects a special-condition issuer referral requiring cardholder contact.
Common Reasons for This Response
The issuer may be applying enhanced verification, a special account condition, a security review, or a program-specific rule that requires cardholder contact before the transaction can proceed.
Should the Merchant Retry the Payment?
Treat this as a conditional decline: a later attempt may succeed only after a special-condition issuer referral requiring cardholder contact is resolved or the cardholder acts, so resubmitting the same request unchanged is unlikely to help.
Recommended Merchant Action
Because this decline reflects a special-condition issuer referral requiring cardholder contact, ask the customer to contact their issuing bank or try another payment method, and watch for clustering by issuer.
What to Tell the Customer
Ask the customer to contact their bank or try another card.
How to Reduce Similar Payment Failures
Tracking how often a special-condition issuer referral requiring cardholder contact appears by issuer and BIN can help you spot avoidable declines and apply account-updater data.
Important Limitations
Decline-code meanings vary by processor, gateway, and payment environment, and issuers may not disclose the precise reason behind this response. The retry classification on this page is Payment Defender editorial guidance, not an official network rule. Merchants should confirm handling with their processor or gateway.
Related Decline Codes
Sources and Review Information
Last reviewed July 17, 2026
Raw network-response codes are supplemental to the complete processor or gateway response. Meanings and recommended actions can vary by issuer, processor, gateway, card network, payment method, region, and merchant configuration.