Discover reason code 05
Discover 05: Good Faith Investigation
What the cardholder is claiming
The issuer contacted your acquirer about an old transaction, usually a fraud claim surfacing after the normal dispute window closed, and asked whether the merchant side would accept liability in good faith. This chargeback posts only after that acceptance.
The evidence that actually wins
Bank analysts skim responses in minutes against a checklist for this exact code. Lead with the strongest fact; never make them dig.
- ✓The record of what your acquirer or processor accepted on your behalf, since consent is the entire basis of this code
- ✓The original transaction documentation, if you believe the acceptance was made in error
- ✓Proof the transaction was already refunded before the good-faith request
The honest read
There is normally nothing to fight, because this code cannot process without consent from your side of the table. If one appears and you never agreed to anything, the question goes to your processor: find out who accepted liability and on what basis. These arrive long after the sale, sometimes years, so your only real leverage is records that still exist. Treat an unexpected 05 as an account-management conversation with your acquirer, not a dispute to rebut with an evidence package.
Nobody can promise you a win; the cardholder's bank decides. What you control is submitting the strongest complete case your records support, on time. Our plain-language guarantees say exactly what that means.
Fighting a 05 right now?
Send us the dispute and a person builds the complete, submission-ready response: the narrative mapped to 05, your evidence compiled and ordered, and the field-by-field walkthrough. 24-hour rush available. If our review says yours isn't worth fighting, we tell you for free.