If a refund hasn't gone through, you can check the reason in the Zopa dashboard.
Refunds can fail for several reasons, including restrictions from the customer's card issuer (their bank), card account issues or payment processing rules.
This guide explains how to find a failed refund, what the failure messages mean and what to do next.
Important: Card refunds can only be issued through Zopa Dash within 180 days of the original transaction. After this period, refunds cannot be processed through Zopa Dash.
How to check why a refund failed
You can find the refund status and failure reason within the transaction details in Zopa Dash.
- Log in to Zopa Dash.
Go to ‘Payments’
Find the transaction associated with the failed refund.
Open the transaction details and scroll down to ‘Related Transaction’
Click into the refund transaction and this will show the failed refund
If the refund has failed, you'll see a failure reason that can help explain why it wasn't processed.
What does my refund failure reason mean?
The following are some of the refund failure messages you might see in Zopa Dash.
These messages are returned during payment processing. They can help explain why a refund was unsuccessful, but they don't always provide the exact cause.
Card issuer or security restrictions
| Failure reason | What it means |
| Suspected Fraud | The transaction has been flagged for suspected fraudulent activity. This doesn't necessarily mean fraud has occurred. |
| Do not honour | The card issuer has declined the request without providing a specific reason. |
| Cannot Authorize at this time – Life cycle | The transaction couldn't be authorised due to a card or account lifecycle restriction. |
| Cannot Authorize at this time – Policy | The transaction couldn't be authorised due to a policy restriction. |
| Exceeds frequency limit / Additional SCA | A transaction frequency limit or additional security requirement may have prevented processing. |
Card or account issues
| Failure reason | What it means |
| Pickup card | A card retention instruction has been returned. The exact reason hasn't been confirmed. |
| Lost Card, Pickup | The card has been reported lost and may no longer be available for transactions. |
| Hot card, pickup if possible | The card has been flagged as blocked or potentially compromised. |
| Special Pickup | A card retention or restriction instruction has been returned. |
| Closed account | The account associated with the card has been closed. |
| Blocked, first Used | The card or account has been blocked. The exact restriction hasn't been confirmed. |
| Invalid card number | The card number or account identifier wasn't accepted during processing. |
| Invalid Account | The account details weren't accepted or recognised. |
| Exceeds PIN retry | The permitted number of PIN attempts has been exceeded. |
| Invalid card verification value | The card verification check was unsuccessful. |
What should I do?
If your refund has failed for one of the reasons above, ask your customer to contact their card-issuing bank with the failure reason shown in Zopa Dash.
Their bank can provide further information about why the refund was declined or whether any restrictions apply to their card or account.
If the refund cannot be processed through Zopa Dash and an alternative refund is required, you'll need to arrange this directly with your customer.
Processing or transaction restrictions
| Failure reason | What it means |
| Transaction cannot be completed | The transaction couldn't be processed. The message doesn't confirm the specific reason. |
| Invalid process | The refund was rejected by a payment processing rule. Further investigation may be needed to understand the restriction. |
What should I do?
If your refund has failed due to a processing or transaction restriction, please contact Zopa Support for further assistance at merchantsupport@zopa.com
Our team can investigate the reported error and advise you on the next steps.
Please note: This isn't a complete list of every possible refund failure reason. Some messages may require further investigation.
Can I retry a failed refund?
You cannot retry a failed refund yourself in Zopa dashboard.
If the refund was declined due to a card issuer or account restriction, your customer should contact their card-issuing bank with the failure reason and reason code.
If the refund failed because of a processing or transaction restriction, contact Zopa Support for assistance.
How long do I have to issue a card refund?
You have 180 days from the original transaction date to issue a card refund through Zopa dashboard.
After 180 days, card refunds can no longer be processed through the Zopa dashboard.
If a refund still needs to be issued after this period, you'll need to arrange this directly with your customer outside the Zopa dashboard.
What if I need to refund my customer outside of the Zopa dashboard?
If a refund cannot be processed through the Zopa dashboard and an alternative refund arrangement is required, you'll need to manage this directly with your customer.
This includes agreeing on an appropriate alternative refund method and arranging the refund outside the Zopa dashboard.
Why can't I process a refund?
To process a refund in the Zopa dashboard, the original payment method must be enabled in your Zopa dashboard.
If the payment method is currently disabled, you can temporarily enable it to process the refund.
- Log in to Zopa dashboard.
- Navigate to ‘Payment Methods’
- Enable the payment method used for the original transaction.
- Return to the transaction and process the refund.
- Once the refund has been processed, you can disable the payment method again if needed.
Good to know: We're working on an update to Zopa Dash that will allow you to process refunds without needing to enable the payment method first.
Until this update is available, the payment method must be enabled before you can process a refund.
Still need help?
If your refund has failed due to a processing or transaction restriction, or the failure reason isn't listed in this guide, please contact Zopa Support at merchantsupport@zopa.com
When contacting support, please provide:
- The transaction reference
- The refund amount
- The date of the attempted refund
- The failure reason and reason code shown in the Zopa dashboard
Our team can review the information available and advise you on the next steps.