GoogleCloudPlatform/microservices-demo · error · ExpiredCreditCard

ExpiredCreditCard

Error message

ExpiredCreditCard

What it means

ExpiredCreditCard is thrown by charge() in src/paymentservice/charge.js when the card's expiration (credit_card_expiration_month/year) is not after the current month, computed as currentYear*12+currentMonth > year*12+month. The card may be valid and accepted, but it has lapsed. It is a CreditCardError with code 400 (Invalid Argument) and includes the masked card number and expiry date in the message.

Source

Thrown at src/paymentservice/charge.js:80

  const { amount, credit_card: creditCard } = request;
  const cardNumber = creditCard.credit_card_number;
  const cardInfo = cardValidator(cardNumber);
  const {
    card_type: cardType,
    valid
  } = cardInfo.getCardDetails();

  if (!valid) { throw new InvalidCreditCard(); }

  // Only VISA and mastercard is accepted, other card types (AMEX, dinersclub) will
  // throw UnacceptedCreditCard error.
  if (!(cardType === 'visa' || cardType === 'mastercard')) { throw new UnacceptedCreditCard(cardType); }

  // Also validate expiration is > today.
  const currentMonth = new Date().getMonth() + 1;
  const currentYear = new Date().getFullYear();
  const { credit_card_expiration_year: year, credit_card_expiration_month: month } = creditCard;
  if ((currentYear * 12 + currentMonth) > (year * 12 + month)) { throw new ExpiredCreditCard(cardNumber.replace('-', ''), month, year); }

  logger.info(`Transaction processed: ${cardType} ending ${cardNumber.substr(-4)} \
    Amount: ${amount.currency_code}${amount.units}.${amount.nanos}`);

  return { transaction_id: uuidv4() };
};

View on GitHub (pinned to 72ba613a05)

Solutions

1. Update the request payload to an expiration date in the future, e.g. {credit_card_expiration_month: 12, credit_card_expiration_year: 2030}
2. Check the machine's system clock (date) — a wrong currentYear makes every card appear expired
3. Regenerate stale fixtures/secrets that contain hardcoded expiry dates
4. If a card expiring in the current month should be chargeable, adjust the comparison in charge.js line 80

Example fix

// before
credit_card: { credit_card_number: '4012-8888-8888-1881', credit_card_expiration_month: 1, credit_card_expiration_year: 2020, ... }
// after
credit_card: { credit_card_number: '4012-8888-8888-1881', credit_card_expiration_month: 12, credit_card_expiration_year: 2030, ... }

function isCardNotExpired({ credit_card_expiration_month: m, credit_card_expiration_year: y }) {
  if (!Number.isInteger(m) || !Number.isInteger(y) || m < 1 || m > 12) return false;
  const now = new Date();
  return (now.getFullYear() * 12 + (now.getMonth() + 1)) <= (y * 12 + m);
}
if (!isCardNotExpired(creditCard)) {
  return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Card has expired; please use another card.' });
}

function isFutureExpiry(month, year) {
  return Number.isInteger(month) && Number.isInteger(year) &&
    (new Date().getFullYear() * 12 + new Date().getMonth() + 1) <= (year * 12 + month);
}

try {
  const result = await paymentClient.Charge(chargeRequest);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message === 'ExpiredCreditCard' || /expired on/i.test(err.message)) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: err.message, hint: 'Please update the expiration date or use a different card.' });
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Charge with credit_card.credit_card_expiration_year/month set to a past date, e.g. {year: 2020, month: 1}; a year-2038-style clock issue on the host making currentYear wrong; off-by-one where the card expires in the current month (current month counts as expired).

Common situations: Hardcoded test payloads with stale expiry dates; test suites failing after time passes (fixtures written years ago); expired sandbox credentials in demo data; server clock skew.

Related errors

• InvalidCreditCard
• UnacceptedCreditCard
• could not charge the card: %+v
• FAILED_PRECONDITION
• FAILED_PRECONDITION

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleCloudPlatform/microservices-demo@72ba613a05 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b3cef24199a24a6. Report an issue: GitHub.