If a renewal payment fails (card declined, expired, etc.), here’s what happens and how to recover.
The retry schedule
Stripe automatically retries failed payments on this schedule:
- First retry: 3 days after the initial failure
- Second retry: 5 days later
- Third retry: 7 days later
If all three retries fail, your subscription is automatically cancelled and your account drops to Free.
Notifications you’ll get
You’ll receive emails at:
- Initial failure (“We couldn’t process your payment”)
- Each retry failure
- Final cancellation if all retries fail
Each email has a link to update your payment method.
How to recover quickly
- Update your payment method: Dashboard → Settings → Billing → “Update payment method”
- Click “Retry now” on the failed payment notice
- If the new card is valid, the payment processes immediately and your subscription is back in good standing
This works at any point during the retry window. You don’t have to wait for a scheduled retry.
Account features stay live during the retry period — so it’s easy to ignore the emails. Don’t. If all retries fail, your tier drops and your tier-gated features stop working until you re-upgrade.
Common failure causes
- Expired card — most common; just update with new expiry
- Insufficient funds — wait for funds, then retry
- Bank blocking the transaction — call your bank to authorize, or use a different card
- Card replaced (lost/stolen) — update with the new card
- Country restrictions — some banks block international charges; ask them to enable
If you ran out of money temporarily
That happens. Update with a different card, or contact support — we can occasionally extend the retry window for legitimate cases.
Your data while in failed-payment state
Nothing happens to your data until the final cancellation. Even at that point, data isn’t deleted — your account just drops to Free tier with appropriate feature gating.