Mastercard Merchant Advice Code (MAC)
Definition
Mastercard's Transaction Processing Excellence (TPE) program offers these Merchant Advice Codes (MACs). They are a set of codes that Mastercard supports to enable issuers to communicate additional information regarding a transaction response. These codes indicate further actions on subsequent transactions that TabaPay Clients should take to continue serving cardholders.
The purpose of these TPE programs is to identify unfavorable transaction processing behavior and drive positive processing behavior change, resulting in a more seamless network experience for all parties involved.
Program Fees
Program fees will be assessed under the Mastercard Transaction Processing Excellence (TPE program) if certain processing behaviors are breached during Authorization.
Benefits and How to Use MAC
- The ability to optimize approval rate performance.
- Lower operational costs associated with submitting unnecessary authorization requests.
- Improved management of subscription services.
- The MACs give merchants that accept non-reloadable prepaid and single-use VCN cards the opportunity to inform their customers using these products for ongoing purchases that a replacement payment source should be added to ensure uninterrupted service.
Where to Find MAC
MAC will be returned in:
- Create Transaction Response from transactions performed using a Mastercard payment credential.
- Query Card with AVS, or ANI.
{
"SC": 200,
"EC": "0",
"transactionID": "TabaPay_TransactionID_",
"network": "MasterCard",
"networkID": "123454646545645",
"networkRC": "00",
"status": "ERROR",
"approvalCode": "000000",
"additional": {
"par": "5001005642207382549510767179",
"codeMAC": "02"
}
}{
...
"bin": "222300",
"last4": "2300",
"nameFI": "FORD Instiution"
},
"AVS": {
"avsID": "Q78rZrISCc3jeQORXlWtBg",
"networkRC": "33",
"networkID": "501419181602",
"authorizeID": "181602",
"codeAVS": "Y",
"codeSecurityCode": "M",
"par": "V0010013022073812195104907179",
"codeMAC": "01",
"ANI": {
"codeMatch": "M",
"codeFullName": "M",
"codeFirstName": "M",
"codeLastName": "M"
}
}
}Note: For Query Card, the response includes Network Response Code 33: Expired card
MAC Values
A MAC value of 03 is indicates that a transaction should not be resubmitted. It denotes that an account is closed or fraudulent, and that no further approvals will be forthcoming by the issuer.
Per MasterCard, there will be a fee assessed for each authorization request resubmission following a MAC 03 decline within a 30-day period.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| 01 | New account information available |
| 02 | Cannot approve at this time, try again later |
| 03 | Do not try again |
| 04 | Token requirements not fulfilled for this token type |
| 05 | Negotiated value not approved |
| 21 | Payment Cancellation (Mastercard use only) |
| 22 | Merchant does not qualify for product code |
| 24 | Retry after 1 hour (Mastercard use only) |
| 25 | Retry after 24 hours (Mastercard use only) |
| 26 | Retry after 2 days (Mastercard use only) |
| 27 | Retry after 4 days (Mastercard use only) |
| 28 | Retry after 6 days (Mastercard use only) |
| 29 | Retry after 8 days (Mastercard use only) |
| 30 | Retry after 10 days (Mastercard use only) |
| 40 | Consumer non-reloadable prepaid card |
| 41 | Consumer single-use virtual card number) |
Changes to Return Codes
MasterCard's Authorization Optimizer introduced three new values:
• 79 (Lifecycle [Mastercard use only])
• 82 (Policy [Mastercard use only])
• 83 (Fraud/Security [Mastercard use only])
These values replace the previously returned network response codes below:
Response codes introduced by Authorization Optimizer | Original response codes |
|---|---|
79 (Lifecycle [Mastercard use only]) | 14 (Invalid card number) |
82 (Policy [Mastercard use only]) | 57 (Transaction not permitted to issuer/ |
83 (Fraud/Security [Mastercard use only]) | 14 (Invalid card number) |
Network Return Code and Merchant Advice Code
TabaPay Clients consuming MACs can apply the following logic to take better decision.
Network Response Code Value | MAC value | Suggested merchant action |
|---|---|---|
51 (Insufficient funds/over credit limit) | When to retry the recurring transaction: 24 (Retry after 1 hour [Mastercard use only]) 25 (Retry after 24 hours [Mastercard use only]) 26 (Retry after 2 days [Mastercard use only]) 27 (Retry after 4 days [Mastercard use only]) 28 (Retry after 6 days [Mastercard use only]) 29 (Retry after 8 days [Mastercard use only]) 30 (Retry after 10 days [Mastercard use only]) | Retry the recurring transaction after the duration period indicated in the advice given, which may improve the likelihood of an approval |
79 (Lifecycle [Mastercard use only][Mastercard use only]) 82 (Policy [Mastercard use only]) | How and whether to retry the transaction: 01 (New account information available) | Updated credentials are not found to be available for TabaPay Account Updater . |
79 (Lifecycle [Mastercard use only][Mastercard use only]) 82 (Policy [Mastercard use only]) | 03 (Do not try again) | Do not retry the transaction. Updated credentials are not found with TabaPay Account Updater . |
83 (Fraud/Security [Mastercard use only][Mastercard use only]) | 01 (New account information available) | Ensure that the card information is correct.Authentication may improve the likelihood of an approval. Retry using authentication (such as EMV® 3DS). |
83 (Fraud/Security [Mastercard use only][Mastercard use only]) | 03 (Do not try again) | Fraud is suspected. Do not retry the transaction |
Decline reason indicated by the issuer | 40 (Consumer non-reloadable prepaid card) | Issuers are required to populate these values when responding to CNP authorization requests. The data gives merchants the opportunity to inform their customers using consumer nonreloadable prepaid cards or consumer single-use virtual card numbers for ongoing purchases that a replacement payment source should be added to ensure uninterrupted service. |
Decline reason indicated by the issuer | 41 (Consumer single-use virtual card number) | Issuers are required to populate these values when responding to CNP authorization requests. The data gives merchants the opportunity to inform their customers using consumer nonreloadable prepaid cards or consumer single-use virtual card numbers for ongoing purchases that a replacement payment source should be added to ensure uninterrupted service.**** |
Examples of Network Response Code and Merchant Advice Code
The following table includes further examples of combined Network Response codes, MAC Codes, and descriptions.
Network Response Code (RC) | MAC Code | Merchant Advice Description | Examples of Reason for Decline | Suggested Merchant Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
00 05 14 51 54 | 01 | New account information available |
| Obtain new account information before next billing cycle |
51 | 02 | Try again later |
| Recycle transaction 72 hours later |
05 | 03 | Do not try again |
| Obtain another type of payment from customer |
30 | 04 | Token requirements not fulfilled for this token type | Invalid token to PAN mapping | Obtain another type of payment from customer |
05 | 21 | Payment Cancellation | Cardholder cancelled recurring agreement | Do not resubmit transaction |
Updated 28 days ago