If you’ve ever worked in payments product management, you’ve likely run into this cryptic error: Do Not Honor. It’s the most common payment failure message we receive from banks worldwide. But here’s the kicker—most of the time, they don’t even know why they’re rejecting the card!
The Problem with Legacy Banking Systems
One thing that becomes crystal clear when dealing with global payments is just how outdated the banking infrastructure is. Banking is still operating on systems that, frankly, feel like they belong in another era. It’s incredibly frustrating as a product manager to work with technology that’s supposed to enable transactions but instead feels like an obstacle we have to constantly work around.
For example, Do Not Honor errors often provide no meaningful information that could help us identify what went wrong or how to fix it. This leads to unnecessary friction, resulting in poor customer experiences and, most critically, failed transactions. And in today’s world, every failed transaction means a lost customer.
A Better Way: Building Our Own Payment Router
To solve this, we’re working on building our own payments router. This system will allow us to try multiple gateways to increase the likelihood of successful payments on the first attempt. Why is this so important? Because we’re seeing a high rate of drop-offs when users encounter a failed payment attempt.
Right now, when we can’t convert a customer on their first payment attempt, we often lose them altogether. It’s a costly problem, and one that can’t be ignored. By implementing a payment router, we can test different banks and gateways quickly, optimizing for the highest success rate, and hopefully eliminating the endless Do Not Honor messages.
Let’s Connect
If you’re working in fintech or payments and face similar challenges, drop me a message! I’m always open to discussing these issues and exploring new solutions. The world of global payments is evolving fast, and there’s so much we can do to improve it.