Visa Reason Code 13.9: Non-Receipt of Cash or Load Value

What Visa reason code 13.9 means

Reason code 13.9 is a Consumer Disputes code for cash and stored value that didn’t arrive. It covers two situations:

• ATM cash not dispensed: the cardholder’s account was debited for a withdrawal, but the ATM dispensed nothing or only part of the amount.
• Load value not received: the cardholder paid to load money onto a prepaid card (for example at a retail load location), and the value didn’t appear on the card.

13.9 is a collaboration code. The acquirer can respond in the dispute-response stage, and the issuer can escalate to pre-arbitration.

Ecommerce note: this code doesn’t apply to online sales. If a customer says they never received an order, that’s 13.1. A merchant only sees 13.9 if it operates ATMs or offers prepaid load services.

Common causes

• ATM dispenser jams, misfeeds or cassette errors
• Network timeouts where the account was debited but the ATM didn’t complete the dispense
• Partial dispenses where the machine ran low on a denomination
• Load transactions that were authorized but failed to post to the prepaid card
• Cardholders who received the cash but dispute it anyway (less common, and refuted by machine records)

Evidence that wins a 13.9 dispute

1. The ATM cash disbursement record for the transaction, showing the amount dispensed and a successful-completion indicator.
2. ATM journal and balancing records for the session and the day, showing no cash overage that would suggest a failed dispense.
3. For load transactions, the load record showing the value was successfully credited to the prepaid card, with the reference number.
4. Timestamps and terminal ID matching the disputed transaction.
5. Camera footage references where your ATM program retains them, if the cardholder’s claim conflicts with the machine records.

A balancing overage that matches the disputed amount usually means the cash wasn’t dispensed, and the dispute is valid.

How to prevent 13.9 disputes

• Maintain ATMs on a schedule and replace dispensers with recurring fault codes.
• Reconcile ATM cash daily so failed dispenses are found and reversed before cardholders dispute.
• Configure ATMs to reverse the transaction automatically when a dispense fails or times out.
• For load services, confirm the load posted before giving the customer a receipt, and reconcile daily with the load provider.

Should you fight or accept?

Fight when the machine journal and balancing records show a successful, complete dispense, or the load record shows the value was credited.

Accept when balancing shows an overage matching the disputed amount, or the load didn’t post. The cardholder genuinely didn’t get their money, and a prompt reversal costs less than a dispute escalated to pre-arbitration.