Response Code 01: Refer to card issuer

What Does Code 01 Mean?

Response code 01 means the issuer wants additional verification before approving. In a physical retail environment, this historically meant the cashier should call the issuer's voice authorization center. In e-commerce, there is no phone to pick up, so it functions as a soft decline.

Code 01 often appears on high-value transactions, first-time purchases with a new merchant, or when the cardholder's spending pattern looks unusual to the issuer's fraud models. It does not mean the card is invalid or that the cardholder lacks funds. The issuer is requesting a secondary confirmation step that may not be possible in an automated flow.

Should You Retry?

Common Causes

• High-value transaction exceeding the cardholder's typical spending pattern
• First transaction with an unfamiliar merchant
• Issuer fraud model flagged the transaction for manual review
• Geographic mismatch between cardholder and merchant

Network Behavior

The same response code can mean different things depending on the card network. Here is how each network treats Code 01:

Platform Mappings

This code surfaces under different names depending on the payment platform:

Related Decline Codes