Transaction Not Permitted to Cardholder
This decline means the issuer does not allow this specific cardholder's card to be used for the type of transaction attempted — for example, a debit card blocked from card-not-present purchases, or a card restricted from certain merchant categories such as gambling. The restriction is set by the issuer on the cardholder's account, not by the merchant.
Decline code by card network
| Card network | Code | Network's wording |
|---|---|---|
| Visa | 57 | Transaction Not Permitted to Cardholder |
| Mastercard | 57 | Transaction Not Permitted to Cardholder |
Common causes
- The card is configured for card-present use only and was used in an online or phone transaction.
- The cardholder's account has opted into or been placed under merchant-category restrictions (e.g. blocking gambling or adult-content purchases).
- The card is a limited-use product (student, prepaid, or benefits card) that restricts certain transaction types by design.
What merchants should do
- Advise the customer to contact their issuer to confirm what transaction types their card permits and whether the restriction can be lifted.
- Offer an alternative payment method, since this restriction cannot be resolved from the merchant side.
- Avoid retrying the same transaction unchanged, as the issuer-level restriction will apply consistently until the cardholder acts.
How to prevent this
- Clearly communicate at checkout which payment methods and card types are accepted for your transaction type.
- For merchants in restricted verticals, offer alternative payment rails (bank transfer, digital wallets) alongside card payments.
- Track this decline by transaction channel (online vs. in-person) to identify if a disproportionate share of customers have channel-restricted cards.
Because this response code is shared across many different underlying restrictions, merchants often cannot tell from the code alone whether the issue is channel-based, category-based, or product-based — only the issuer has that detail.
Frequently asked questions
Can the merchant remove this restriction?
No. The restriction lives on the cardholder's account with their issuer. The merchant can only suggest the customer contact their bank or try a different payment method.
Is this the same as a merchant category being blocked?
They share the same underlying network code, but this page covers the general case of any cardholder-level transaction-type restriction. Merchant-category blocking is a specific, common scenario worth its own explanation — see the related "Merchant Category Restricted by Issuer" entry.