Visa reason code 11.3
Visa 11.3: No Authorization
What the cardholder is claiming
The issuer says the transaction settled without valid authorization: none was requested, the approval had expired by the time you captured, or the captured amount exceeded what was approved.
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 authorization approval code with date, amount, and account number matching the settled transaction
- ✓For delayed capture: proof the capture happened within the allowed window for your merchant category
- ✓For hotels, rentals, and bars: incremental or updated authorization records covering the final amount, not just the initial hold
- ✓For partial shipments: separate authorizations matching each captured amount
The honest read
This usually is not fraud by anyone, it is plumbing: an auth that expired before capture, an incremental charge that was never separately authorized, or a final amount that outgrew the original hold. Hotels, car rentals, and anyone who captures long after authorizing are the usual victims. If a valid auth covering the full captured amount exists, present it and this is winnable. If it does not, no narrative substitutes for the missing approval, so accept it and fix the capture timing.
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 11.3 right now?
Send us the dispute and a person builds the complete, submission-ready response: the narrative mapped to 11.3, 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.