diff --git a/app/services/payment_service.py b/app/services/payment_service.py
index fb4418c..2836a1e 100644
--- a/app/services/payment_service.py
+++ b/app/services/payment_service.py
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ def create_customer_profile(customer: schemas.Customer, card_info: schemas.CardC
             logger.error(f"Full API Response: {pprint.pformat(vars(response))}")
             raise ValueError(error_msg)
 
+    except ValueError:
+        # Re-raise specific ValueError messages we already set above (like E00039)
+        raise
     except Exception as e:
         logger.error(f"A critical exception occurred during the API call: {traceback.format_exc()}")
         raise ValueError("Could not connect to the payment gateway.")
diff --git a/app/services/user_create.py b/app/services/user_create.py
index b6c6805..2bc3a08 100644
--- a/app/services/user_create.py
+++ b/app/services/user_create.py
@@ -115,11 +115,15 @@ def create_user_account(db: Session, customer_id: int) -> dict:
             try:
                 auth_profile_id, _ = payment_service.create_customer_profile(customer, card_info)
             except ValueError as e:
-                logger.error(f"API call failed: {e}")
+                error_str = str(e)
+                logger.error(f"API call failed: {error_str}")
+
                 return {
                     "success": False,
-                    "message": f"Failed to create customer profile: {str(e)}",
-                    "profile_id": None
+                    "message": f"Failed to create customer profile: {error_str}",
+                    "profile_id": None,
+                    "error_detail": error_str,
+                    "is_duplicate": "E00039" in error_str
                 }
 
             if not auth_profile_id: