incorrect_numberNeeds customer actionStripe decline code: Incorrect number
The card number entered is invalid.
Recovery outlook
Needs customer action. The card or account details need to change, or the customer must clear something with their bank. Recovery runs through dunning, not blind retries.
What it means
The card number itself is wrong. It fails validation or doesn't correspond to a real card at the issuer.
Why it happens
Almost always a mistyped number at entry, or a stored number that was corrupted or is out of date.
Can you retry it?
There's nothing to retry; the customer has to enter a valid number. Client-side validation (Luhn check, real-time formatting) prevents most of these before they ever reach the issuer.
Recovery playbook
- 1Prompt the customer to re-enter the card number.
- 2Add real-time card-number validation at collection.
- 3For subscriptions, route to a dunning update flow.
- 4Never store or retry an invalid number.
How Reecova handles incorrect_number
Reecova flags incorrect_number as needing customer action and triggers a dunning sequence to collect an updated card or prompt the bank contact, rather than wasting retry attempts. It runs across your whole Stripe account automatically, and shows the dollars each code is costing you.