Recurly subscription billing error

try {
    $subscription = new Recurly_Subscription();
    $subscription->plan_code = 'fffvip';
    $subscription->currency = 'USD';
    $subscription->quantity = 1;

    $accountcode = 'nplocalsgtf0301_14@yopmail.com';
    $account = Recurly_Account::get($accountcode);

    $billing_info = new Recurly_BillingInfo();
    $billing_info->token_id = $billingToken; //token contains bad credit card

    $account->billing_info = $billingInfo;

    $subscription->account = $account;
    $subscription->create();  
} catch (Exception $e)
{ 
    // Ian: $e is Recurly_ValidationError without any transcation error info.
    // can you confirm if $e->getMessage() would give us the same message as Recurly_TransactionError > customer_message? 
    $message_for_user = $e->getMessage();
}