A computer-based method for throttling payment card transaction processing is provided. The method uses a computer device including a processor and a memory. The method includes identifying, in the memory, a first threshold level. The method also includes transmitting a first plurality of transaction requests to a sub-processing system. The method further includes computing, by the processor, an average response time of the sub-processing system for processing the first plurality of transaction requests. The method also includes receiving a second plurality of transaction requests. The method further includes identifying one or more of the second plurality of transaction requests as failure candidates based at least in part on the average response time and the first threshold level. The method also includes failing one or more of the failure candidates.