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See whether your enrollment is active

Check whether each Prevent or Deflect program enrollment is active or still processing.

Written by Theodore

Use this article to check each enrollment in Prevent alert programs and Deflect lookup programs. An enrollment status applies to the individual program and billing descriptor or payment setup shown.

This article doesn't explain how to enroll a descriptor or how to fix account issues related to chargebacks that weren't prevented.

Before You Start

A billing descriptor can be active in one network and inactive in another. You must check the same descriptor in each network before you confirm that your account can receive alerts and lookups across all networks.

The enrollment dashboard shows descriptor status for each network.

The dashboard doesn't show statuses for additional coverage status for American Express and Discover.

If you need a status update for additional coverage, contact Support.

How to Check Your Setup Status

If you want to check whether your descriptor can receive alerts or lookups, then follow these steps:

  1. Choose the product you want to check:

    1. For Prevent, go to Prevent → Alerts → Configure.

    2. For Deflect, go to Deflect → Lookups → Configure → Business.

  2. From the dropdown, click Configure.

  3. Select the network you want to review.

  4. Find your billing descriptors.

  5. Check the status shown beside the descriptor.

shows users how to check the enrollment status of their billing descriptor

How to Search for Descriptors if I Have More Than One

If you have more than 1 billing descriptor and need to find them easier, go to the network you want to check the status under, then use one of these options.

1. Search for Descriptors

Click on the search bar and type the descriptor you want to search for. Or, you can use keywords (part of your descriptor), and the search results will pull up related descriptors.

Shows users where the search bar is to search for their billing descriptor if they have more than one descriptor

2. Status Filter

To filter out active or inactive descriptors, click on the All Statuses box and select the status filter(s) you'd like to apply.

shows users how to apply filters when searching for statuses in their dashboard

For example, if you want to find all descriptors that require further action, uncheck Active, Pending, Pending Unenroll, In Re-Enrollment, and In Progress.

How to Know Whether Your Descriptor is Active

If your descriptor shows Active, then that descriptor can receive chargeback prevention alerts or lookups for that network.

Example of what a billing descriptor looks like if it has the active status

If your descriptor shows Pending, or an error status, then that descriptor is still in the enrollment process and cannot receive alerts or lookups yet.

example of Pending status on billing descriptors

A descriptor status applies only to the network where it appears.
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If Descriptor A is active and Descriptor B is not, then you only receive alerts or lookups for Descriptor A. If a descriptor is active in CDRN alerts but inactive in Ethoca Alerts, then you only receive alerts through CDRN for that descriptor.

If Your Account is New

If your account is new, then the network card becomes active after your first descriptor becomes active in that network.

shows the user what their dashboard should look like if an alert network is active

If you enrolled DESCRIPTOR A in CDRN, and that descriptor becomes active, then the CDRN network card shows as active.

This confirms that at least 1 descriptor in that network can receive alerts. It doesn't confirm that all descriptors in that network are active.

Troubleshooting Enrollment Issues

If your descriptors aren't active when they should have been, follow the troubleshooting steps below.

1. Account is in Demo Mode

If you see a Demo Mode indicator, then your account cannot receive chargeback prevention alerts or lookups yet.

Further reading:

2. If Your Balance Dropped Below the Critical Threshold

If your account was active before, but your balance dropped below the Critical threshold, then your account may have been deactivated.

To reactivate alerts, top up your balance until it's above the Minimum threshold. If your balance does not return above the Minimum threshold, then your account does not reactivate.

3. Descriptor Error Statuses

If your descriptor shows one of the statuses below, then the descriptor needs further action before it can become active:

  • Verification Needed

  • Enrolled Elsewhere

  • Generic Descriptor

  • Banned Descriptor

  • Invalid ARNs

  • Invalid Descriptor

  • Needs assistance

If you see one of these statuses, then review the message shown under the status and complete the required action.

shows users an example of text under a descriptor error status telling them how to resolve the error

If the dashboard message does not resolve the issue, then use the troubleshooting guide for that error or contact Support.

4. Descriptor Isn't Active When it Was Supposed to Be

If your descriptor does not show Active after the expected enrollment window, then contact Support.

For Prevent program enrollments, check When chargeback alerts start after signup for expected activation timelines and conditions that can delay enrollment. For Deflect program enrollments, see How to enroll in Deflect and track your activation.

Before you contact Support, check whether the descriptor shows an error status. If the descriptor shows an error status, resolve that issue first.”

5. I'm Not Receiving Alerts or Lookups After My Descriptor Went Active

If your descriptor shows Active and you're enrolled in alerts under Prevent, but chargebacks are still slipping through without alerts, then use the alert delivery troubleshooting guide.

If your Order Insight or Consumer Clarity enrollment under Deflect is active but no lookups appear, see Why Deflect is active but showing no lookups.

6. Your Descriptor's Missing a Prefix

If your payment processor adds a prefix to your billing descriptor, then enrollment can take longer or fail if the prefixed version is missing.

A prefix is a set of characters that the payment processor automatically adds before the descriptor.

If your processor uses a prefix, then you must add both versions of the descriptor:

  • With prefix: SP CHARGEBACK.IO

  • Without prefix: CHARGEBACK.IO

If only one version is enrolled, then the descriptor may stay pending or fail to enroll.

Find your payment processor in one of these guides. Check whether your payment processor adds a prefix.

If these guides don't include your payment processor, see this guide on descriptor optimization for additional prefixes.

7. Descriptor is not showing as Pending after you added it to a new business account

If you added descriptors or ARNs to a new business account and the enrollment is not showing as Pending after 2 hours:

  1. Choose the product you want to check:

    1. For Prevent, go to Prevent → Alerts → Configure.

    2. For Deflect, go to Deflect → Lookups → Configure → Business.

  2. Open the Configure enrollments tab.

  3. Confirm the correct business account is selected in the business account switcher.

  4. Check whether the descriptor appears in the list.

If the descriptor does not appear in the list, or if you received an error when adding it, contact Support. Include the business account name, the descriptor you attempted to add, and a screenshot of the error if one appeared.

💬 Still need help? Contact Chargeback.io support.

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