ISO 8583:1987 response code
51
Not sufficient funds
- Standard version
- ISO 8583:1987
- Paired version code
- ISO 8583:1993 · 116
In ISO 8583:1987, response code 51 means “Not sufficient funds”. It is paired here with ISO 8583:1993 response code 116, “Not sufficient funds”. The reviewed dataset contains entries for Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and UnionPay; 1 of the five scheme columns remain N/A.
Merchant handling
Actions to be taken
Do not provide the goods or services on this authorization. Ask the cardholder for another payment method or follow the acquirer’s instructions; do not automatically retry from the response code alone.
This is conservative merchant guidance derived from the published response meaning. Current scheme, acquirer, processor, merchant advice, and transaction-specific rules take precedence.
Scheme comparison
Descriptions in the reviewed sources
Each populated value links to its scheme record and preserves the raw code published by that source. N/A means no matching description exists in the reviewed public dataset.
| Scheme | Raw code | Source description | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa | 51 | Not sufficient funds | Official |
| Mastercard | 51 | Insufficient funds/over credit limit | Official, limited scope |
| American Express | 116 | Not sufficient funds | Secondary source |
| Discover | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| UnionPay | 51 | Available funds are insufficient | Official, limited scope |
Standard sources
Version and response-name evidence
- ISO 8583:1987 metadataOfficial edition metadata; the full value table is not public.ISO
- Wikipedia ISO 8583 version tablesSecondary public source for the displayed response name.Revision 1352601145