Retry strategies

When a payment fails with a Category A decline (soft), RecoverIQ retries it on a schedule tuned to the specific decline code. The strategy preset adjusts how aggressively we retry.

Strategy presets

Three options, picked at Dashboard → Settings → Recovery strategy.

Conservative

Widest spacing between retries. Lowest risk of rate-limit or fraud flags. Best for large ticket sizes or sensitive customer bases.

Balanced

Default

Default. Standard spacing. Good fit for most SaaS on recurring subscriptions.

Aggressive

Tightest spacing. Higher recovery velocity, slightly higher risk of hard-decline spillover if the issuer treats repeat attempts as suspicious.

Default retry schedule

The schedule is decline-code-specific, not one-size-fits-all. Here's the default (Balanced) spacing:

Decline code	1st retry	2nd retry	3rd+ retry
`insufficient_funds`	72h	48h	24h
`processing_error`	4h	6h	24h
`try_again_later`	4h	6h	24h
`issuer_not_available`	4h	6h	24h
`generic_decline`	24h	48h	72h
`do_not_honor`	24h	48h	72h
`reenter_transaction`	24h	48h	72h
`(unknown code)`	24h	48h	72h

The logic: insufficient_funds waits longer between early retries because the customer likely needs a paycheck to clear first. Transient issuer errors (processing_error, try_again_later) retry fast because they often resolve in hours.

When retries stop

A case stops retrying when any of these happen:

The payment succeeds. Case flips to recovered.
The retry count hits the configured maximum for your strategy.
The 14-day recovery window expires. Case flips to expired (counted as lost in your recovery-rate math).
A subsequent failure escalates the decline category (e.g. issuer flips from generic_decline to stolen_card). We stop retrying and lean on email.
You manually cancel the case.

Per-customer overrides

Per-customer strategy overrides are on the roadmap but not shipped yet. For now, the strategy preset applies to every case for your account.

If you have a specific customer you want to stop retrying, open the case from your dashboard and use the Cancel case action in the detail drawer.

Why not every decline retries

Category B (card problems), C (hard declines), and D (fraud) declines are not retried automatically. Retrying an expired card won't make it valid again, and retrying a stolen_card response can get you flagged by the issuer. For those categories, RecoverIQ sends an email to the customer asking them to update their payment method, and waits for them to act.

See recovery cases for the full category breakdown.

Still have questions?

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