> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Decline Rate, Viva Payments > Decline Rate for Viva Payments stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Payment Gateway](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > The percentage of attempted Viva Payments transactions that **failed** (issuer-declined, fraud-flagged, or 3DS-rejected). High decline rates signal upstream issues (issuer routing, BIN problems, 3DS friction, fraud filters too tight); they directly suppress revenue. | | | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(StatusId IN (E, M)) ÷ COUNT(StatusId IN (F, E, M)) × 100`. `E` = Error / declined, `M` = Maximum number of payment attempts reached. `X` (cancelled / abandoned) excluded from both numerator and denominator, those are tracked separately as 3DS abandons. | | **API endpoint** | [`/api/transactions`](https://developer.vivawallet.com/apis-for-payments/payment-api/) with full status filter (no status= filter passed). | | **Currency** | **Currency-neutral** (rate, not amount). | | **3DS 2 treatment** | A 3DS challenge that the issuer rejected counts as decline (`E`). A 3DS challenge that the customer abandoned counts as `X` and goes to [`viv_threedsecure_abandon_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/3ds-abandonment-rate), not here. | | **Refunds** | Not relevant (refunds are post-success). | | **Disputes** | Not relevant (disputes are post-success). | | **Recurring rebills** | Counted. A failed rebill is one decline; Viva Smart Retry can resurrect some, those re-counted as success on retry. | | **Channels** | Online + POS unified. POS card-present has very low decline rate (typically \<1%, the card and PIN succeed locally); online card-not-present is higher (typically 4, 8% on healthy traffic). The blended figure depends on channel mix. | | **Decline reason breakdown** | This card is a single rate; the per-reason split is in [`viv_top_decline_reasons`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/top-decline-reasons). | | **Time window** | `7D vsP` (default 7D rolling). | | **Alert trigger** | `>8%` absolute, OR `+25%` relative spike vs prior week. `sentiment_key: decline_rate`. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Viva Payments data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A Spanish DTC electronics retailer ("Iberica Tech") on Smart Checkout, one Smart POS for trade counter. The 7-day window covers 26 Apr 26 to 02 May 26. | Channel | Successful (F) | Declined (E + M) | Cancelled / 3DS abandon (X) | Decline rate | | ----------------------- | -------------- | ---------------- | --------------------------- | ---------------------- | | Online checkout | 4,210 | 312 | 168 | 312 ÷ 4,522 = **6.9%** | | Trade counter Smart POS | 84 | 1 | 0 | 1 ÷ 85 = **1.2%** | | Recurring rebills | 320 | 28 | 0 | 28 ÷ 348 = **8.0%** | ```text theme={null} Blended decline rate (this card): Successful = 4,210 + 84 + 320 = 4,614 Declined = 312 + 1 + 28 = 341 Decline rate = 341 ÷ (4,614 + 341) = 6.88% ``` What the merchant should notice: 1. **Online decline rate at 6.9% is at the upper edge of healthy.** EU intra-EEA card-not-present typically runs 4, 7%; above 8% triggers the alert. Open [`viv_top_decline_reasons`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/top-decline-reasons) to see the issuer-side breakdown. Likely candidates: `INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS`, `DO_NOT_HONOR` (issuer fraud-flag), `CARD_VELOCITY_EXCEEDED`, or `3DS_FAILED`. 2. **POS decline at 1.2% is normal.** Card-present transactions involve PIN-and-chip locally; declines are almost always genuine insufficient-funds. Anything >2% on POS suggests a terminal connectivity issue. 3. **Recurring rebill decline of 8% is the leading indicator.** Recurring failures are mostly *expired card* and *insufficient funds*; Viva Smart Retry recovers \~30, 50% over 3, 7 days but the initial decline still counts here. Track recovery via the upstream subscription platform. 4. **3DS abandons at 168 are NOT in this card.** A 3% 3DS abandon rate (168 out of \~ 5,000 sessions hitting challenge) is normal. They live in [`viv_threedsecure_abandon_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/3ds-abandonment-rate). Don't conflate decline (issuer rejected) with abandon (customer gave up at the bank popup), they have different fixes. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Decline Rate | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`viv_success_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/success-rate) | The complementary view (success% = 100 − decline% − abandon%). | | [`viv_top_decline_reasons`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/top-decline-reasons) | The breakdown by reason code, the first card to open when this rate jumps. | | [`viv_threedsecure_abandon_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/3ds-abandonment-rate) | The cousin metric, customers who abandoned at the 3DS prompt. Different fix. | | [`viva_payment_methods`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/payment-methods) | Method mix often explains rate movement (Amex declines more than debit on EU traffic). | | [`viva_revenue_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/revenue-over-time) | Decline-rate spikes and revenue dips usually move together. | | [`viva_total_transactions`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/successful-transactions) | Reading the absolute decline volume, not just the rate. | | Stripe [`stripe_decline_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/decline-rate) / PayPal [`pp_decline_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/paypal/decline-failure-rate) | Cross-PSP comparison. Same merchant on different rails, often different rates. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in the Viva Payments Dashboard:** Sign in at [viva.com/business/account/login](https://www.viva.com/en/business/account/login). The closest comparable view is: > **Viva Business → Sales → Reports → Transactions** (filter "Status: Failed" + "Status: Max attempts"; same date range) The **Risk** dashboard (where enabled) shows decline reasons grouped. Other views to be aware of: * **Disputes view**: separate from declines; do not conflate. * **Sales overview "Success rate" tile**: complementary KPI; should equal 100 − decline − abandon. **Why our number may legitimately differ from the Viva Dashboard:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | -------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time zone** | Boundary days off | Athens timezone vs UTC. | | **Cancelled (X) handling** | Ours excludes X, theirs may include | Viva Dashboard sometimes groups X with declines under "Failed". This card explicitly excludes X (those are abandons). | | **3DS late completion** | Theirs may flip retroactively | A 3DS challenge completed hours later flips X to F retroactively in Dashboard; we update on next sync. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Comparison | Expected relationship | When divergence is legitimate | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `viva_decline_rate` ↔ [`stripe.stripe_decline_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/decline-rate) | Often differ by 1, 4 percentage points | Different acquirer routing per issuer. Stripe routes Greek issuers via non-Greek acquirer; Viva uses domestic. Domestic routing typically lower decline rate. | | `viva_decline_rate` ↔ [`paypal.pp_decline_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/paypal/decline-failure-rate) | PayPal usually higher | PayPal carries higher-risk traffic + buyer-protection-flagged users. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (same archetype on other PSPs) * [`stripe.stripe_decline_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/decline-rate) * [`paypal.pp_decline_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/paypal/decline-failure-rate)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Decline rate spiked overnight, what to check first?** Open [`viv_top_decline_reasons`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/top-decline-reasons). Most spikes are one of three patterns: (1) issuer-side fraud filter triggered (a wave of `DO_NOT_HONOR` from one BIN range), (2) a bad ad campaign sending high-risk traffic (mix-shift, spread across reasons), (3) Viva Risk filter tightened (Viva-side rejections, visible in the Dashboard's Risk view). **Why is Viva's decline rate often lower than Stripe's for Greek issuers?** Domestic routing. Viva connects directly to Greek and Cyprus issuing banks; Stripe usually routes via a non-Greek acquirer for those issuers, which adds an extra hop and 1, 3 percentage points of issuer rejection. Same logic applies in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Romania to varying degrees. **Are 3DS abandonments declines?** No. A challenge that the customer abandoned is `StatusId = X`, tracked in [`viv_threedsecure_abandon_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/3ds-abandonment-rate). A challenge that the customer attempted but the issuer rejected is `StatusId = E` and counts here. Different fixes: abandon needs UX work (translate the challenge prompt, simplify); declines need issuer-side analysis. **Recurring rebill failures, do those count?** Yes. A failed rebill is one decline. Viva Smart Retry can recover some over 3, 7 days; the recovered ones flip to `F` and stop counting as declines. The initial failure stays in the historical metric. **My PSD2 SCA exemption rate, does that affect this?** Yes, indirectly. If you're using SCA exemptions (low-value, MIT, recurring, trusted-merchant), more transactions skip 3DS challenges, fewer 3DS-rejection declines. If exemptions are misconfigured, the issuer pushes back challenges and you get a wave of `3DS_REQUIRED` rejections. **JP Morgan ownership, did fraud filters get tighter?** No reported changes to Viva's risk engine post-acquisition (as of dd MMM yy). The risk engine continues under existing Viva governance. **Is `INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS` always genuine?** Mostly, but not always, some issuers return `INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS` as a generic-reject when they don't want to expose the real reason (e.g. fraud-flag). If you see a sudden cluster of `INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS` from a specific BIN, treat it as suspicious. **Multi-currency, does decline rate compute per-currency?** The card defaults to a blended rate. The per-currency split is on the roadmap; in the meantime use the Viva Dashboard's currency filter to spot-check. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Decline Rate* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Viva Payments and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.