---
title: "Why did my customer's payment fail?"
description: "Most failed payments are the customer's bank declining the card, a 3-D Secure check that wasn't completed, or an expired checkout. Here's what each means and what to try."
url: "/docs/accepting-payments/why-did-my-customers-payment-fail/"
category: "Accepting payments"
---

Most failed payments come down to one of three things: the **customer's bank declined the card**, a **3-D Secure check wasn't completed**, or the **checkout expired** before payment finished. The failure reason shown on the payment tells you which, and each has a different next step.

## The common causes

- **The bank declined the card.** Some declines are permanent for that card — for example the bank returned "Do Not Honour" or flagged the transaction as risky. The customer should **use a different card**; retrying the same one will decline again.
- **Not enough funds.** This is temporary. The customer can try again once funds are available, or use another card.
- **3-D Secure wasn't completed.** If the payment shows "Card authentication failed (3-D Secure)", the customer didn't finish the bank's verification step. Ask them to try again and complete the check from their banking app. See [Why was my payment declined by 3-D Secure?](/docs/troubleshooting/why-was-my-payment-declined-by-3d-secure/)
- **The checkout expired.** A payment page left open too long times out. Send a fresh payment link.

## What to tell your customer

Card declines are decided by the **customer's bank**, not by Fynex — we can't override them. The quickest fixes are: try a different card, complete the 3-D Secure prompt, or contact their bank if it keeps declining a card they know is good.

For a full list of what each failure reason means, see [A payment says "failed" — what do the error codes mean?](/docs/troubleshooting/a-payment-says-failed-what-do-the-error-codes-mean/)

## Related

- [Which payment methods and currencies can my customers use?](/docs/accepting-payments/which-payment-methods-and-currencies-can-my-customers-use/)
- [Why was my payment declined by 3-D Secure?](/docs/troubleshooting/why-was-my-payment-declined-by-3d-secure/)