Issuer or Switch Inoperative
What it means
The issuing bank or the network switch could not be reached to authorize the transaction.
Why it happens
The issuer's system is temporarily offline, unreachable, or timing out during authorization.
If you’re the cardholder
Wait a short while and try the payment again.
If you’re the merchant
Treat as a soft decline and retry after a delay; the same card may succeed once the issuer is reachable.