Auto-pay and saved cards

When a client saves a card or bank account, Tillage can charge it for you: automatically for recurring invoices, or on demand with Process Payment. This page covers how payment methods get saved, the consent that controls auto-pay, and what happens when a charge fails.

Saved payment methods are stored by Stripe, not Tillage. Tillage only sees the brand, last four digits and expiry.

How payment methods get saved

A client’s payment method is saved to their Stripe customer in one of these ways:

• At checkout: when a client pays an invoice online, Stripe offers to save the card or bank account for future payments.
• With a payment method link: you send a secure link and the client adds or updates a payment method without paying anything. See Send a payment method link.
• From an existing Stripe account: if you connected your own Stripe account and imported from Stripe, your existing customers and their saved methods come with them.

Each Stripe customer linked to a client is a billing profile. Most clients have one; a client with several paying contacts can have more.

Manage a client’s saved payment methods

1. Open the client and go to the Payment tab.
2. Under Saved payment methods, you’ll see each billing profile and its cards and bank accounts, with the Default one marked.
3. Use the star button to make a method the default, or the remove button to detach it from the Stripe customer.

If you see No Stripe Customers, the client hasn’t paid online or saved a method yet.

Set auto-pay consent

Consent decides which invoices Tillage may charge without asking the client first.

1. Open the client and go to the Payment tab.

2. Under Auto-Payment Consent, choose:

   Option	Tillage can auto-charge
   Never	Nothing. The client always pays manually.
   Recurring Only	Invoices from recurring billing schedules, and usage invoices created through the API. This is the default.
   All Invoices	Everything above, plus payment plan installments.

3. Optionally set Max Auto-Payment (Optional). Invoices above this amount are skipped and left for the client to pay.

Clients can also give consent when they sign a contract whose payment schedule has auto-charge turned on. They see Automatic Payment Authorization and choose Yes, authorize automatic payments or No, I will pay invoices manually. Yes sets the client to All Invoices; No sets Recurring Only.

What gets charged automatically

Tillage checks for invoices to charge every hour. An invoice is charged once it’s due and all of these are true:

Requirement	Recurring invoices	Payment plan installments
Client’s Auto-Payment Consent	Recurring Only or All Invoices	All Invoices
Stripe customer	Chosen as the schedule’s Stripe Customer	Set on the plan
Payment method	The customer’s default, or their only saved method	A specific method chosen when the schedule was set up
Auto-charge	On whenever a Stripe customer is chosen	Turned on in the contract’s payment schedule

The invoice must also be issued, not a draft, with online payment allowed and the amount within the client’s Max Auto-Payment if one is set. For recurring invoices, use Automatically issue invoice without email (auto-charge) with Payment Terms of 0 to charge on the issue date. See Billing schedules.

If a customer has several saved methods and none is the default, Tillage doesn’t guess. The invoice is skipped until you set a default.

Your fee settings apply to auto-charges the same as any online payment. See Processing fees.

Charge a saved card with Process Payment

Use Process Payment to charge a saved method yourself, for example when a client asks you to put an invoice on their card on file.

1. Open the invoice and choose Process Payment from the actions menu. In the invoice list, it’s in the row’s menu.
2. If the client has more than one billing profile, choose which one to charge.
3. Choose a saved card or bank account.
4. Check the amount. If your client pays fees, the platform and processing fees are added to the Total to Charge.
5. Click the Charge button, which shows the total, for example Charge $250.00.

A card payment marks the invoice Paid right away. A bank payment moves it to Processing and usually completes in a few business days.

Process Payment appears only for unpaid, issued invoices whose client has a Stripe customer in Tillage.

Send a payment method link

When a card expires or a client wants to switch accounts, send them a link to update it.

1. Open the client and go to the Payment tab.
2. Next to the billing profile, click Send link.
3. In Send payment method link, check the Recipient email and Email subject, and add an Email message (optional).
4. Click Send email, or Copy link to share it yourself.

The link expires in 30 days. Your client sees their current methods, adds a new one and clicks Save payment method. The new method becomes the default for that billing profile, so future auto-charges use it.

When an automatic payment fails

If an auto-charge on a recurring invoice fails, the invoice’s payment status shows Failed and Tillage retries:

Attempt	When
First charge	When the invoice is due
First retry	About 1 day after the failure
Second retry	About 2 days after the first retry

Retries run once a day. After the second retry fails, Tillage stops and the invoice waits for you. To collect it:

1. Send a payment method link so the client can update their card.
2. Once they have, use Process Payment, or let the client pay from the invoice link.

Retries apply only to recurring invoices. A failed charge on a payment plan installment or one you started with Process Payment isn’t retried; try again yourself or send the client the invoice link.

Related

• Billing schedules
• Clients and contacts
• Processing fees