Recurring payments, and the renewals you nearly lost.
Stored credentials, correctly flagged merchant-initiated transactions, retry logic tuned to the decline reason, and a subscription lifecycle you can see end to end.
Involuntary churn is a payments problem
A customer who wanted to stay but whose card expired is not a retention problem, it is a credential problem. Recurring payments on Flowa Pay are built to keep the stored credential current, to flag each renewal correctly so issuers recognise it as expected activity, and to retry the failures that are actually recoverable.
From request to reconciled
Store with consent
The first payment captures the credential and records the customer's agreement to be charged again, which is what the schemes require for later initiation.
Flag correctly
Each renewal is submitted as a merchant-initiated transaction referencing the original, so the issuer sees expected activity rather than a surprise charge.
Keep credentials fresh
Network tokens and credential updates, where available on your route, keep stored cards working through reissue and expiry.
Recover failures
A failed renewal is classified and retried on a reason-specific schedule rather than hammered at a fixed interval.
Report the lifecycle
Active, failed, recovered and cancelled states are visible per subscriber, with the payment history behind each one.
What recurring payments covers
Subscriptions
Repeat billing on a schedule you define, with the payment history for each subscriber in one place.
Recurring billing
Fixed-amount renewals and variable-amount billing where the charge depends on usage.
Stored payment credentials
Credentials are tokenized and stored in the payment environment. Your systems hold a token and a customer reference.
Merchant-initiated transactions
Later charges are submitted with the scheme-required initiation indicators, where supported on the acquiring route.
Tokenization & network tokens
Network tokens, where the route and scheme programme support them, survive card reissue and expiry that would otherwise break a stored credential.
Retry logic
Decline reasons are classified so that only genuinely retryable failures are retried, on a schedule matched to the reason.
Failed payment recovery
A structured recovery sequence across retries, credential refresh and, where you want it, customer outreach.
Subscription lifecycle
Created, active, past due, recovered, cancelled and expired, each with the events that caused the change.
Payment status & reporting
Renewal success rate, recovery rate and involuntary churn reported as first-class metrics.
Why teams choose it
- Fewer lost renewals. Credential freshness and reason-aware retries recover payments that a fixed retry schedule would lose.
- Correct scheme treatment. Properly flagged merchant-initiated transactions are treated by issuers as expected, not anomalous.
- No stored card numbers. Your systems hold tokens and references, never card data.
- Visible churn causes. Involuntary churn is separated from genuine cancellation, so you can act on the right one.
How you connect
- Store a credential on first payment, then charge the token on your own schedule through the API.
- Webhooks for renewal success, failure, recovery and credential updates.
- Hosted checkout or embedded components for the initial credential capture.
What you can accept
- Cards with stored credentials
- Network tokens where available
- Bank-based recurring methods where supported on your route
Availability depends on merchant category, jurisdiction, underwriting and the applicable payment or acquiring partner.
How it is controlled
- Credentials are tokenized; the sensitive value stays in the payment environment.
- Customer agreement to recurring charges is recorded at the point of capture.
- Authentication requirements for the initial transaction follow the rules of the market in play.
Flowa Pay provides the payment technology and orchestration layer. Acquiring, scheme settlement and regulated payment services are provided by licensed acquiring and payment partners under their own authorisations.
Common questions
No. The credential is tokenized and stored in the payment environment. You charge the token.
Where network tokens and credential updates are available on your route, the stored credential is refreshed automatically rather than failing at the next renewal.
By decline reason. Insufficient funds is retried on a schedule; a hard decline such as a closed account is not retried at all, because it will never succeed.
On some. Bank-based recurring arrangements depend on the rail and the partner, and are confirmed per merchant.
Ready to put recurring payments to work?
Talk to our team about your corridors, your volumes and the routes that fit your business.