diff --git a/src/controllers/helpers.js b/src/controllers/helpers.js
index 86aee6ea47..62ee51106c 100644
--- a/src/controllers/helpers.js
+++ b/src/controllers/helpers.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
+const colors = require('colors/safe');
 const nconf = require('nconf');
 const validator = require('validator');
 const querystring = require('querystring');
@@ -361,21 +362,9 @@ helpers.formatApiResponse = async (statusCode, res, payload) => {
 
 		// Update status code based on some common error codes
 		switch (payload.message) {
-			case '[[error:user-banned]]': {
-				const [reason, expiry] = await Promise.all([
-					user.bans.getReason(res.req.uid),
-					user.getUserField(res.req.uid, 'banned:expire'),
-				]);
-
-				response.reason = reason;
-				if (expiry) {
-					Object.assign(response, {
-						expiry,
-						expiryISO: new Date(expiry).toISOString(),
-						expiryLocaleString: new Date(expiry).toLocaleString(),
-					});
-				}
-			} // intentional fall through
+			case '[[error:user-banned]]':
+				Object.assign(response, await generateBannedResponse(res));
+				// intentional fall through
 
 			case '[[error:no-privileges]]':
 				statusCode = 403;
@@ -391,6 +380,7 @@ helpers.formatApiResponse = async (statusCode, res, payload) => {
 
 		if (global.env === 'development') {
 			returnPayload.stack = payload.stack;
+			process.stdout.write(`[${colors.yellow('api')}] Exception caught, error with stack trace follows:\n`);
 			process.stdout.write(payload.stack);
 		}
 		res.status(statusCode).json(returnPayload);
@@ -400,6 +390,25 @@ helpers.formatApiResponse = async (statusCode, res, payload) => {
 	}
 };
 
+async function generateBannedResponse(res) {
+	const response = {};
+	const [reason, expiry] = await Promise.all([
+		user.bans.getReason(res.req.uid),
+		user.getUserField(res.req.uid, 'banned:expire'),
+	]);
+
+	response.reason = reason;
+	if (expiry) {
+		Object.assign(response, {
+			expiry,
+			expiryISO: new Date(expiry).toISOString(),
+			expiryLocaleString: new Date(expiry).toLocaleString(),
+		});
+	}
+
+	return response;
+}
+
 helpers.generateError = (statusCode, message) => {
 	var payload = {
 		status: {