--- description: Learn about Visa response code 51 (Not sufficient funds), its causes, and how merchants should handle insufficient funds declines with smart retries. title: Visa Issuer Response Code 51: Not Sufficient Funds image: https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,height=630,quality=85,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fog-image.0z0q4_5kazzzo.jpeg --- [Skip to main content](#main-content) ![Visa](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=96,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2Fpayment-providers%2Flogos%2Fvisa.svg) Visa # Visa Issuer Response Code 51: Not Sufficient Funds soft decline Last updated: September 25, 2026 ## Still letting failed transactions slip through? SmartRetry turns declines into approvals - automatically, intelligently, and without changing your payment provider. Email address Let’s talk Table of Contents ## About 51 \- "Not sufficient funds" ## Key details Brand ![Visa](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=256,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2Fpayment-providers%2Flogos%2Fvisa.svg) Code 51 Category Issuer Response Codes Response 51 Detailed Response Not sufficient funds soft decline ## What it means Visa issuer response code 51 indicates that the cardholder's account or available credit limit does not have enough funds to cover the requested transaction amount at the time of authorization. It is a financial decline sent directly by the issuing bank rather than a technical or fraud-related block. ## Classification & retryability softRetryable: conditional Retries should be spaced to allow time for the customer's balance or credit limit to replenish. While Visa rules allow up to 15 retries in 30 days for this category, best practices require a much smaller, intelligent retry budget (such as aligning with payday cycles). Do not retry immediately. ## Why does code 51 occur? * The cardholder's bank account balance is lower than the requested transaction amount. * The transaction exceeds the available credit limit on the cardholder's credit card. * Previous authorization holds have temporarily reduced the available balance on the account. ## How to solve 51? To resolve this decline, the underlying account balance or available credit must increase to cover the requested amount, or the customer must supply a different, fully funded payment method. Immediate, blind resubmissions of the exact same amount without a change in account status will likely result in repeated declines. ### Solving as a merchant Preserve the original decline response and communicate to the customer that the payment failed due to insufficient funds. Prompt them to add funds to their account or provide an alternative payment method. If utilizing automated retry logic, employ a small, spaced retry budget that respects the maximum network limit (15 attempts in 30 days) and stop immediately if an alternate payment method is provided. ### Solving as a customer Check the available balance or credit limit on the account to ensure enough funds exist to complete the purchase. Either add necessary funds, pay down an existing credit balance, or provide a different payment method. 💡Tip from SmartRetry Schedule retries around common payroll cycles—such as the 1st and 15th of the month or Friday mornings—rather than firing rapid resubmissions. This gives cardholders time to replenish their balance while protecting your authorization health with issuing banks. [See the full list of Visa's decline codes \>](/payment-providers/visa#statuses)[Find code on Visa's website \>](https://developer.visa.com/request%5Fresponse%5Fcodes) ### Frequently asked questions about this topic Can I immediately retry Visa code 51? No. Blindly resubmitting the exact same amount without giving the customer time to add funds is unlikely to resolve the underlying condition. Retries should be spaced out to allow for a plausible change in the account balance. Are there network limits for retrying insufficient funds declines on Visa? Yes. For Visa acquiring, code 51 is categorized as an integrity-fee category-2 response. This imposes a strict network-integrity maximum of 15 retries within a 30-day period, though merchants should optimize for far fewer attempts. How should I communicate a code 51 decline to my customer? You should clearly communicate that their issuing bank reported insufficient available funds or credit. Request that the customer either add funds to their associated bank account or update their billing details with a different payment method. #### Share this article [![Share on X](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Ftwitter.21z6yr9njnznr.svg)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Visa%20Issuer%20Response%20Code%2051%3A%20Not%20Sufficient%20Funds&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartretry.com%2Fdecline-code%2Fvisa-issuer-response-code-51 "Share on X")[![Share on Facebook](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Ffacebook.3sbfjbsxa26qg.svg)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartretry.com%2Fdecline-code%2Fvisa-issuer-response-code-51 "Share on Facebook")[![Share on LinkedIn](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Flinkedin.09sdc8tnlrn4a.svg)](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartretry.com%2Fdecline-code%2Fvisa-issuer-response-code-51 "Share on LinkedIn") Make us your preferred source ![Kyle Regacho](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=256,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Faa4329c7f45a68c68f2fbccab899d0f43f3740f3f9e92d5c6ea711171fc1a35f%3Fs%3D96%26d%3Dmm%26r%3Dg) Author ##### Kyle Regacho [![LinkedIn](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=32,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Flinkedin.09sdc8tnlrn4a.svg)Find me on Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kdregacho/) Focused on payment recovery, decline codes, and authorization optimization at SmartRetry. Helps payment teams turn failed transactions into recovered revenue [Read all articles >](/authors/kyle-regacho) ## Join our newsletter! Real strategies to recover lost revenue - straight to your inbox Email address Subscribe ## Related codes * [![Visa](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=256,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2Fpayment-providers%2Flogos%2Fvisa.svg)39No credit accounthard declinetechnical declineRead more >](/decline-code/visa-issuer-response-code-39) * [![Visa](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=256,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2Fpayment-providers%2Flogos%2Fvisa.svg)41Lost cardhard declinefraud declineRead more >](/decline-code/visa-issuer-response-code-41) * [![Visa](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=256,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2Fpayment-providers%2Flogos%2Fvisa.svg)28File update file locked outtechnical declinesoft declineRead more >](/decline-code/visa-issuer-response-code-28) ## Articles you may find interesting: [View all](/blog) [![Turning Payment Declines into Revenue with Context-Aware Retry Logic](https://cdn.smartretry.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.smartretry.com%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F09%2Frecovering-revenue-with-intelligent-retries.jpg) September 25, 2026 Turning Payment Declines into Revenue with Context-Aware Retry Logic Blind retries waste fees and damage issuer trust. 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Discover how data-driven retries and response code intelligence help teams recover failed transactions and protect conversion.](/blog/cost-of-payment-declines-recovery) --- ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Visa Issuer Response Code 51: Not Sufficient Funds","url":"https://www.smartretry.com/decline-code/visa-issuer-response-code-51","inLanguage":"en","author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.smartretry.com/#organization","name":"SmartRetry","url":"https://www.smartretry.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://cdn.smartretry.com/logo.png","width":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","value":175,"unitCode":"PX"},"height":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","value":29,"unitCode":"PX"}},"description":"SmartRetry is a smart payment recovery platform that helps businesses save revenue from failed payment transactions and reduce false declines.","sameAs":["https://x.com/smartretry","https://www.facebook.com/smartretry","https://www.instagram.com/smartretry","https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartretry","https://www.youtube.com/@smartretry"],"contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","availableLanguage":["Hebrew","English"],"url":"https://www.smartretry.com/contact"},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"Menachem Begin","addressLocality":"Tel Aviv-Yafo","addressCountry":"IL"}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.smartretry.com/#organization","name":"SmartRetry","url":"https://www.smartretry.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://cdn.smartretry.com/logo.png","width":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","value":175,"unitCode":"PX"},"height":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","value":29,"unitCode":"PX"}},"description":"SmartRetry is a smart payment recovery platform that helps businesses save revenue from failed payment transactions and reduce false declines.","sameAs":["https://x.com/smartretry","https://www.facebook.com/smartretry","https://www.instagram.com/smartretry","https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartretry","https://www.youtube.com/@smartretry"],"contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","availableLanguage":["Hebrew","English"],"url":"https://www.smartretry.com/contact"},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"Menachem Begin","addressLocality":"Tel Aviv-Yafo","addressCountry":"IL"}},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.smartretry.com/decline-code/visa-issuer-response-code-51","name":"Visa Issuer Response Code 51: Not Sufficient Funds"},"description":"Learn about Visa response code 51 (Not sufficient funds), its causes, and how merchants should handle insufficient funds declines with smart retries.","datePublished":"2026-09-24T11:22:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-09-25T07:22:38.000Z","keywords":"Visa code 51, decline code 51, insufficient funds decline, Visa response code 51, payment retry strategy","about":{"@type":"Thing","name":"Visa Issuer Response Codes 51"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.smartretry.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Decline Code","item":"https://www.smartretry.com/decline-code"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Visa","item":"https://www.smartretry.com/decline-code?provider=Visa"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"51","item":"https://www.smartretry.com/decline-code/visa-issuer-response-code-51"}]} ```