Decision Signals
Retry Smarter.
Route Better.
Pagos Signals tells you which declines to retry and when, then routes transactions to the processor that maximizes conversion and cost efficiency.
Refused (05)
Stop - Do Not Retry
25–35%
average first retry success rate
$0.50+
penalty per excessive retry (Visa-only)
12+
processors analyzed for routing
Daily
retry recommendations delivered
Weekly
routing optimization updates
THE SOLUTION
Static Rules
Most merchants retry every soft decline on the same processor after a fixed delay. Multi-processor merchants route based on rules written months ago. Both approaches can cost you.
Retry Optimization
Not all decline codes are created equal. The key is classifying them before retrying
Code
Meaning
Retry
05
Do Not Honor
X
41
Lost Card
X
43
Stolen Card
X
Hello, I'm here to help make sense of your payments data…
Blind Retries
Retrying every decline with the same logic wastes processing costs on unrecoverable transactions and risks network penalties for excessive retries ($0.50+ per violation from Visa alone).
Single-Processor decisions
Visa Approve at 88% on PSP 1, but 79% on PSP 2 for the same card type
Processor 1
Transaction ID:
Declined
Declined
Transaction ID:
Declined
Declined
Processor 2
Transaction ID:
Declined
Approved
Transaction ID:
Declined
Approved
Single-Processor Decisions
Your processor only sees its own data. It can't (and won't) recommend retrying on a different processor where the issuer's approval rate is higher for that card type and region.
Stale Routing Rules
Static rules need to be replaced with a living review cycle:
Source
Meaning
Processor Behavior
Auth. logic issuer relationships, tech. routing
Seasonal Patterns
Issuer risk appetite shifts (holidays, travel peaks, tax season)
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Stale Routing Rules
Static rules degrade over time. Routing configurations based on last quarter's performance miss shifting processor behavior, seasonal patterns, and fee changes.
TWO PRODUCTS, ONE SIGNAL
Retries and Routing:
Connected by Data
Retry and Routing Signals draw from the same harmonized cross-processor dataset. When a transaction fails, Pagos Retries decides what to do next. For every new transaction, Pagos Routing decides where to send it.
Retries
Retry Intelligently
Pagos Signals evaluates every decline against the full context (not just decline code) to deliver three decisions per failed transaction:
Should You Retry
Decline code analysis distinguishes retryable soft declines from hard declines that will fail again and trigger penalties.
Which Processor
Cross-processor analysis identifies where that specific issuer, card type, and region has the highest approval rate.
When to Retry
Analysis of historical approval patterns delivers optimal timing recommendations; some issuers approve retries within minutes, others need hours or days.
Delivered
Daily file with per-transaction guidance. API available in beta for real-time decisions at the point of decline.
Routing
Route to the Right Processor
For merchants processing across multiple processors, Pagos Signals generates routing recommendations that optimize for both conversion and cost.
Authorization rates
Routes transactions to the processor with the highest approval rate for that card type, issuer, and geography.
Cost optimization
Factors in interchange differences, processor markups, and cross-border fees to minimize total cost of acceptance.
Contractual awareness
Makes recommendations that account for volume commitments, payment method support, entity footprint, and geographic coverage per processor.
Delivered
Weekly routing file that evolves based on measured performance and continuous experimentation.
HOW IT WORKS
Context-Aware
Retry Decisions
Every decline is evaluated against multiple dimensions.
Alerts
Automated monitoring and anomaly detection for your core metrics
May 17th
Approval Rate
90 Days
Attempted Transaction Count
90 Days
Transaction Declines
Pagos flags a statistically significant change in your approval rate, cost, or decline distribution.
Evaluating Context
Thinking
Comparing issuer behavior patterns...
Evaluating cross-processor approval rates...
Applying network retry rules...
Assessing current merchant performance state...
Generating optimal decision...
Hello, I'm here to help make sense of your payments data…
Context Evaluated
The decision engine compares against issuer behavior patterns, cross-processor approval rates, network retry rules, and the merchant's current performance state.
$
29
USD
Declined
Processed by
Visa on May 22,2026 11:14 AM
Transaction Details
Transaction ID
Expired
Original Decline Code
'expired_card'
Retry Recommendation
NO
Reason
Card is expired; retries will not succeed regardless of processor or timing
Signal Delivered
BETA
A per-transaction recommendation is delivered via daily file or API (beta): retry or not, which processor, and when.
DECISION INPUTS
What Goes Into
Every Signal
Every Pagos recommendation draws from the full transaction and ecosystem context.
Issuer Behavior
Historical approval and retry patterns vary by issuing bank. Some issuers approve retries within minutes, while others require 24+ hours. Pagos tracks both.
Card & BIN Context
Before evaluation, Pagos enriches every transaction with BIN data, including card type, product tier, issuing country, funding source, and tokenization status.
Merchant Performance
Pagos reviews current authorization rates, VAMP ratios, retry violation exposure, and overall processing health, and adapts to the merchant's current state.
Cross-Processor Rates
Pagos compares approval rates for each specific combination of issuer, card type, and region across every connected processor. No single processor can do that.
Timing Patterns
Issuer approval behavior varies by the time of day and the day of the week. Pagos Retry timing recommendations are optimized against historical success curves, not fixed intervals.
Network Rules
Every card network has its own retry rules, penalty thresholds, and mandated intervals. Every Pagos recommendation stays within network-allowed boundaries.
NO ALTERNATIVE
Pagos Signals
vs. Alternatives
How do dynamic, data-driven retry and routing recommendations compare to static rules and percentage-of-revenue models?
INTELLIGENT ALERTS
What a Signal
Looks Like
Each declined transaction receives a specific recommendation.
Retry on Processor B in 4 Hours
NEW SIGNAL
Visa credit, Insufficient Funds, Chase issuer. Chase approves 62% of retries on this card tier through Processor B between 2–6pm ET. Current processor approval rate for this combination: 28%.
Retry on Same Processor in 24 Hours
NEW SIGNAL
Visa debit, Do Not Honor, UK issuer. This issuer shows 41% retry success after 24 hours on the original processor. Immediate retries to this issuer have a 4% success rate.
Do Not Retry
NEW SIGNAL
Mastercard debit, Account Closed. Hard decline with 0.3% historical retry success rate. Retrying risks a $0.50+ excessive retry penalty with no meaningful recovery probability.
Route to Processor A for APAC Visa Credit
NEW SIGNAL
Routing signal: Processor A authorizes APAC Visa credit at 91.2% vs. Processor C at 84.7%, with comparable interchange. Shift recommended for transactions above $50 in this corridor.
REVENUE RETENTION
Critical for
Recurring Revenue
For subscription businesses, a failed renewal is a churn event. Intelligent retries are the difference between recovered revenue and lost customers.
Recover Failed Renewals
First retries succeed 25–35% of the time on average. With optimized timing and processor selection, Pagos customers push recovery rates higher while avoiding penalties.
Reduce Involuntary Churn
Involuntary churn from payment failures accounts for 20–40% of total churn at subscription companies. Each recovered payment extends customer lifetime value.
Pair with Fresh Credentials
Combine retry optimization with Pagos Account Updater and Network Tokens; update expired cards before retrying to increase success rates on credential-related declines.
FAQ
Related Topics
Product
Cost Optimization
Break down every fee. Surface every penalty. Reduce your total cost of acceptance.
Read More
Product
Insights & Benchmarking
Analytic dashboards and AI-powered insights across all your processors.
Read More
Guide
Retry Strategy Guide
Framework for building a data-driven
retry strategy.
Read More
Product
Account Updater
Update expired cards before retry attempts to increase success rates.
Read More
Use Case
Reducing Churn
Combine retries, credential updates, and routing to retain subscribers.
Read More
Learn
Payments Optimization
End-to-end strategies for improving conversion and reducing costs.
Read More
Stop Guessing
Start Signaling
Turn every decline into a data-driven decision and route every transaction to the right processor.