Amex Reason Code P23: What It Means and What to Do

Amex reason code P23 is Currency discrepancy. It means you charged the Card Member in a currency they did not agree to be billed in. If you got a notice with this code, the customer says the money came out in the wrong currency.

What is Amex reason code P23?

American Express sorts its dispute codes with a letter and two digits. P23 is in the point-of-interaction group. It covers charges where the currency you used was not the currency the customer expected.

The customer may have agreed to pay in their own money. Instead, the charge went through in another currency, and the amount they saw on their bill looked wrong. That is the heart of a P23 dispute.

Common causes of a P23 chargeback

This code shows up most often with merchants that sell across borders. A few habits cause most of it.

• Your checkout showed one currency. But your terminal or gateway billed another.

• You charged in your own currency and let the customer's bank convert it, without saying so first.

• A currency setting in your payment setup was wrong and no one noticed.

• The customer did not know the currency on their statement. They thought the whole charge was wrong.

Some of these are honest mistakes. Others are a real gap between what the customer agreed to and what you billed. Both can end in a P23.

How to prevent a P23 chargeback

The fix is simple to say and takes real work to do. Charge in the currency the Card Member expects and will recognize.

Make the currency plain at checkout. Show it before the customer pays, not just on the receipt. If you offer to bill in their home currency, say so and show the converted amount. If you do not offer that, make sure your gateway is not doing it anyway.

Check your settings on a schedule. A gateway or terminal can be set to the wrong currency. Then every sale is billed wrong until someone catches it. A quick audit of test charges across your main markets will show what your customers actually see.

How to respond to a P23 chargeback

Before you hear anything, the disputed charge is worked on with the Card Member. American Express only contacts you if that does not settle it. If Amex needs more, you get an Inquiry or a Chargeback.

You get an Inquiry when the Card Member disputes a charge. The papers on file do not settle it. If the Card Member gives enough information, your account may be debited upfront.

If your reply settles the dispute on time, there is no Chargeback. So answer an Inquiry as if the case depends on it, because it does.

The best way to respond is online through your Merchant Account. Your papers should include a copy of the charge record or credit record. A good reply explains the documents, addresses the specific dispute reason and describes the steps taken to resolve it.

For P23, the proof that matters is evidence the customer agreed to that currency. Show a screenshot of your checkout with the currency choice. Or show an order confirmation that names it. Both beat a receipt alone. If you cannot show the customer saw and accepted the currency, the dispute is hard to win.

What documents do you need to fight a P23 chargeback?

Gather these before you write your reply.

• The charge record or credit record.

• An order confirmation or invoice that names the currency.

• A screenshot of your checkout flow with the currency displayed.

• Any terms the customer accepted that state the billing currency.

• Proof of delivery or service, if the customer also claims they never got what they paid for.

Label each document so the reader knows what it shows. Keep the reply short and pointed at the currency question.

What happens after you respond

You may have a Chargeback, not an Inquiry. You can still send papers that might undo it. Your reply can undo the Chargeback. It must answer the dispute and arrive on time. If you do not reply in time, or you do not send the requested documents, the Chargeback stands.

Do not treat the deadline as soft. Mark the date the notice arrives and send your papers early. For a wider view of the rounds that can follow, see what happens after you answer a chargeback. If you are still finding your way around the notice itself, start with how to read a chargeback notice.

A P23 dispute often comes from a small gap. The customer expected one thing. Your system did another. Close that gap at checkout and most of these disputes go away.

Sources

• americanexpress.com