Payment failed on client's card
Mowzey retries automatically, emails the customer, and gives you tools to push them back to paying.
When a card declines on an invoice or subscription charge, Mowzey doesn't just give up. There's an automatic retry schedule, the customer gets a notification, and you have one-tap tools to ask for an updated card. Here's what happens and what to do.
Why cards decline
The big three, in roughly this order:
- Expired card. Customer stored a card months ago and it's since expired. Most common cause.
- Insufficient funds. Debit cards especially. Usually resolves on its own when their payday hits.
- Fraud block. The bank flagged the charge as suspicious, often because it's an unusual merchant for the customer. Customer needs to approve it in their bank app or call their bank.
Less common: bank account closed, card reported lost, 3D Secure authentication required (see How do I get paid? for the 3DS retry flow).
What Mowzey does automatically
- Retries 3 times over 7 days. Stripe retries the charge on a smart schedule (not just every day) that maximizes the odds of one of the attempts catching the bank in a better mood.
- Emails the customer immediately. They get a message with a one-click link to update their card. The link opens a Stripe-hosted page (you never see their card number).
- Marks the invoice overdue after all retries fail. You'll see it in red on the Invoices page with a CreditCard icon flag.
What you should do
1
Open the invoice on the Invoices page and look at the status. If retries are still in progress, give it a few days — the next attempt may succeed.
2
If retries failed, send a card-update link from the customer page → "Request card update". Customer gets a fresh email with a new Stripe-hosted form.
3
If the customer paid you in cash/check/Zelle in the meantime, mark the invoice as paid manually: open the invoice → ⋮ → Mark as Paid → pick the payment method. The $3 Mowzey platform fee is recorded but not collected for non-card payments.
4
If the customer is unresponsive, you can void the invoice (⋮ → Void Invoice). Voided invoices stay in the system for your records but stop the retry loop and drop them from your collections work.
For subscription charges that fail
Same retry behavior — Stripe runs the smart-retry schedule, customer is emailed. If all attempts fail, the subscription is marked past_due. You'll see this on the customer page.
Past-due subscriptions don't auto-cancel
A past-due subscription stays open by default — Mowzey doesn't cancel it on you. If the customer wants out, you cancel it manually (customer page → subscription → Cancel). If you cancel an upcoming recurring service to avoid wasted trips, do it before the next scheduled job.