In payment systems, a failed status is the label given to a transaction that was submitted but could not be completed. It is one of the standard values of payment status that a provider reports through its dashboard, interface and notifications, alongside states such as pending and settled. Failed is a final state: a new payment must be created to try again.
A payment can fail at several points. A card may be refused by its issuer, with a decline code giving the reason; a bank transfer may be rejected for invalid account details or lack of funds; a compliance or fraud check may block it; or a technical error or timeout may interrupt it. A failure is distinct from a cancellation, which the payer or merchant chooses, and from a reversal or return of a payment that had already succeeded. Systems built on a payment state machine define which earlier states can lead to it.