Selecting exemptions to strong authentication requirements

A system, comprising:

• at least one computing device;
• and
• an exemption selection engine executable in the at least one computing device, wherein when executed the exemption selection engine causes the at least one computing device to at least:
• receive a payment transaction for a user account using a payment instrument from a payment issuer;
• determine, for a plurality of different exemptions from an authentication challenge performed by the payment issuer, whether the payment transaction qualifies for respective ones of the plurality of different exemptions;
• and
• identify a particular exemption for the payment transaction from a subset of the plurality of different exemptions for which the payment transaction qualifies based at least in part on respective success histories for respective ones of the subset of the plurality of different exemptions.

A method, comprising:

• receiving, via at least one of one or more computing devices, a payment transaction for a user account using a payment instrument from a payment issuer;
• determining, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, for a plurality of different exemptions from an authentication challenge performed by the payment issuer, whether the payment transaction qualifies for respective ones of the plurality of different exemptions;
• identifying, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, a particular exemption for the payment transaction from a subset of the plurality of different exemptions for which the payment transaction qualifies that is most likely to avoid the authentication challenge performed by the payment issuer;
• and
• submitting, via at least one of the one or more computing devices, the payment transaction for processing by the payment issuer with the particular exemption requested.