Visa · Authorization
Reason code 11.1: Card Recovery Bulletin
The merchant completed a transaction without authorization on a card that was listed on the Card Recovery Bulletin, Visa's list of blocked account numbers that card-present merchants must check for below-floor-limit transactions. Because nearly all modern transactions are electronically authorized, this code has become rare. It survives mainly for offline and floor-limit environments where authorization was skipped.
Issuer filing window
75 days from the transaction processing date
Merchant response window
typically 20-30 days to respond, depending on the acquirer
Why 11.1 chargebacks happen
- A transaction under the applicable floor limit was completed without checking the Card Recovery Bulletin for the merchant's region.
- A terminal operating in offline or store-and-forward mode accepted a card whose account number was listed for pickup.
- Paper-based or manual imprint sales were processed without any electronic authorization attempt.
- A merchant in a floor-limit market misunderstood which transactions required a CRB check.
- Legacy equipment approved a transaction locally instead of routing it to the issuer for authorization.
How to fight a 11.1 chargeback
- Produce the authorization approval record; if the transaction was authorized online by the issuer, the CRB obligation never applied and the dispute is invalid.
- Show that the account number was not actually listed on the Card Recovery Bulletin for your region on the transaction date.
- Demonstrate that the transaction amount was above the floor limit and was properly authorized, taking it outside CRB territory.
- Verify the dispute was filed within the issuer's 75-day window, which is shorter than most Visa timeframes and frequently missed.
- Ask your acquirer to confirm the dispute conditions, since 11.1 filings on standard electronically authorized transactions are usually filing errors.
How to prevent 11.1 chargebacks
- Authorize every transaction electronically, which removes the Card Recovery Bulletin obligation entirely.
- Eliminate offline, store-and-forward, and manual imprint acceptance except where genuinely unavoidable.
- If you must operate with floor limits, build the CRB check into the mandatory sales procedure and document compliance.
- Replace legacy terminals that can locally approve transactions without issuer contact.
- Audit any franchise or event locations for lingering offline acceptance practices.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Card Recovery Bulletin?
- It is Visa's published list of card account numbers that merchants must not accept, historically distributed so card-present merchants could screen below-floor-limit transactions that were not electronically authorized. If a merchant completes an unauthorized transaction on a listed card, the issuer can charge it back under 11.1. Electronic authorization replaces the CRB check, which is why the code is nearly extinct.
- Why did I receive an 11.1 chargeback on an online order?
- Almost certainly in error. Ecommerce transactions are authorized electronically in real time, and authorized transactions are outside the scope of the Card Recovery Bulletin. Pull your authorization approval record and have your acquirer represent the dispute; an approval code on the transaction should defeat it.
- How long does an issuer have to file an 11.1 dispute?
- 75 days from the transaction processing date, which is shorter than the 120-day window most Visa reason codes carry. All three 11.x authorization codes share this compressed timeframe. Checking the filing date against the 75-day limit is a quick first screen on any authorization dispute.
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