TL;DR
- An expired card is a hard decline: the bank refuses the charge because the card details on file are no longer valid, and retrying the same details won’t change that.
- An account updater fetches the new card number or expiry date from the card network after the bank reissues a card, so you can update what you have on file.
- A network token replaces the card number with a token from Visa or Mastercard. Tokens stay valid when the card is reissued, so renewals don’t fail on the expiry date.
- Neither one covers every card, so you still need an expiry reminder and an easy way for customers to update their card before the renewal date.
Account updater and network tokens are the two tools that keep a subscription renewing after the customer’s card expires, and they cover the most cards when you run them together. Both work through the card networks, and both need your payment provider or your acquirer (the bank that accepts card payments on your behalf) to switch them on.
To keep it concrete, we’ll follow one example. A language app charges $12.99 a month, mostly to US users. Maya subscribed with a Visa card that expires at the end of March, and her next renewal is due on April 3. Her bank mails her a new card in March. Whether the April 3 charge goes through depends on what the app has set up before that date.
Why expired cards break renewals
The bank treats an expired card as a hard decline: the card details on file can’t be charged anymore, so every attempt with those details fails.
Declines come in two kinds. A soft decline is temporary, for example insufficient funds, a timeout, or a bank that wants an extra check. Retrying later often works. A hard decline means the problem sits in the card details themselves: an expired card, a closed account, a lost or stolen card. PayPal’s guidance for merchants calls retrying a hard decline usually futile, and repeated attempts can draw extra scrutiny from card issuers.
That’s why retries alone don’t fix expired cards. Maya’s bank will refuse the old card on April 3 and on every retry after it, until the app either has her new card details or charges a credential that follows the card through the reissue. Expired cards are one of several reasons subscribers drop off without meaning to; our guide on how to prevent involuntary churn covers the others.
Account updater vs network tokens
Account updater and network tokens solve the same problem from two directions: an account updater fetches the new card details after the bank reissues a card, and a network token keeps working through the reissue.
| Account updater | Network tokens | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Sends you the new card number or expiry date after the card is reissued or expires | Replaces the card number with a network token that keeps working after the card is reissued |
| Where the update comes from | The card network passes it through your acquirer or payment provider when asked | The issuing bank updates the token itself |
| How often | In batches or in real time, depending on the provider | Automatically, whenever the card changes |
| Coverage | More issuers take part | Not every issuer supports network tokens yet |
| Where to turn it on | With your payment provider or acquirer | With your payment provider, or through a platform registered as a token requestor |
Each tool depends on which banks take part, so running both covers more cards than either one alone. Account updater is the older program, and Pagos notes that more issuers participate in it than in network tokenization. Network tokens, on the other hand, update without anyone having to ask. Pagos and Payway both describe them as complementary, and many payment providers support both.
What is an account updater?
An account updater is a card network service that tells merchants when a stored card has a new number or expiry date, so the next charge goes to the right details. Each network runs its own: Visa Account Updater (VAU), Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU), American Express Cardrefresher, and Discover Account Updater.
How Visa Account Updater works
Your acquirer enrolls you in VAU. In the batch version, your stored card numbers go to Visa through the acquirer, Visa checks them against updates from issuers, and the acquirer passes any changes back to you. Visa requires acquirers to do that within two business days, and you have to update the stored card before you charge it. Real Time VAU runs the same check inside the authorization for merchant-initiated payments such as renewals, so the update and the charge happen in one step.
Mastercard ABU works the same way and runs mainly on batch files.
What you need from your payment provider
Ask your payment provider whether account updater is on for your account, and for which card networks. Some providers run it automatically; others need you to request it.
If the language app’s provider runs VAU, Visa can return Maya’s new expiry date before April 3, and the renewal goes through on the new details, as long as her bank takes part in VAU.
What is network tokenization?
Network tokenization replaces a stored card number with a token issued by the card network, and the issuing bank keeps that token current when the card is reissued.
How a network token works over its life
- When a customer pays for the first time, your payment provider, or a platform registered as a token requestor (the role card networks give to businesses allowed to request tokens), asks Visa or Mastercard for a token for that card.
- Renewals are charged with the token instead of the card number.
- When the bank reissues the card, it updates the card details behind the token, so the token keeps working.
- If the account is closed, or the bank suspends the token, for example after fraud, the token stops working and the charge fails.
With a network token in place, Maya’s April 3 renewal goes through on the token even if the app never learns her new expiry date. Tokens stay valid when the card is reissued, so renewals don’t fail on the expiry date.
Where network tokens fall short
Not every issuer supports network tokens yet, so some cards stay on file as plain card numbers. Tokens are also created going forward: cards saved before you turned tokenization on keep their old card numbers until they’re tokenized.
What neither one catches, and what to do about it
Some cards slip past both tools, so you need a way for the customer to fix the card themselves.
- Closed accounts and bank switches. If the customer closes the account or moves to another bank, there’s no new card to pass along.
- Issuers that don’t take part. A bank outside both programs sends no updates at all.
- Apple Pay. Apple Pay renewals run on Apple’s own device token, so account updater and your network tokens don’t apply, and the token can’t be exported to another payment provider. For new subscribers, you can switch to Apple’s merchant token (MPAN), which isn’t tied to a single device.
For these cards, two things keep the subscription alive: a reminder before the card expires and an easy way to update the card. What happens if the renewal still fails depends on your billing system.
Send a reminder before the card expires
An email a week or two before the expiry date gives the customer time to update the card before the renewal fails. Keep it short, with one button, and show the amount and date of the next charge, so the customer knows what they’re agreeing to. FunnelFox doesn’t send these emails for you, but the FunnelFox Payments API returns each saved card’s expiry date, so you can trigger the reminder from your own email tool.
Template
Card expiry reminder email
Swap in each customer’s name, card digits, plan, amount, and date. The button links to your update-card page.
Replace the name, card digits, plan, amount, and date with each customer’s details. The button links to your update-card page.
Give customers a page to update their card
An update-card page lets the customer enter a new card in a few taps, from the reminder email or from a failed-payment message. Without one, the customer has to find their way into account settings, and some of them won’t. In FunnelFox Payments, you place an Update payment method checkout on your own account page and link to that page from your emails.
Know what happens after a card expired decline
What happens after a card expired decline depends on your billing system. Some keep the customer’s access for a grace period while they update the card. Others treat the decline as final: FunnelFox Payments doesn’t retry a card expired decline, turns auto-renew off, and lets the subscription expire, so a card added afterwards doesn’t restart it and the customer has to subscribe again. That’s why the reminder before the expiry date does most of the work. If Maya’s April 3 charge fails on her old card, the app’s next step is a win-back offer.
For failures a retry can fix, such as insufficient funds, FunnelFox Payments keeps the subscriber’s access for a grace period while it retries: seven days for monthly and annual plans on the default schedules.
A 3-step plan for expired cards
The plan has three stages: before the card expires, when the renewal fails, and after.
- Before the card expires. Turn on network tokens, and ask your payment provider to turn on account updater. Send the reminder email a week or two before the expiry date.
- When a renewal fails with a card expired decline. Don’t retry the same card. If your billing system keeps the subscription active, send the customer your update-card link right away. If it ends the subscription, as FunnelFox Payments does, go straight to step 3.
- After the failure. Where your billing system offers a grace period, keep access while the customer updates the card. Once the subscription has expired, move the customer into a win-back campaign.
For the language app, that means Maya’s renewal goes through on a network token or an updated expiry date in most cases. If her card falls through both, the March reminder is what keeps her subscribed. Once the April 3 charge fails, she’ll need to subscribe again.
 | FunnelFoxPayments |
Set up this plan in one place
| 1 | Network tokens Request them on the Payment Features page. FunnelFox enrolls your business with Visa and Mastercard as a token requestor; activation typically takes 2–3 business days. With your own Stripe account, Stripe also has to enable Bring Your Own Token. |
| 2 | Update payment method checkout Place it on your own account page and link to it from your reminder emails. The API returns each saved card’s expiry date, so you can time those emails. |
| 3 | Grace period and retries Failures a retry can fix, such as insufficient funds, are retried on a schedule while the customer keeps access. A card expired decline isn’t retried, so the update has to happen before the renewal date. |
How FunnelFox Payments handles expired cards
FunnelFox Payments covers the token side and the customer side of expired cards.
- Network tokenization. If you process through FunnelFox Payments with Primer, you request network tokenization on the Payment Features page. FunnelFox enrolls your business with Visa and Mastercard as a token requestor; activation typically takes 2–3 business days. If you connect your own Stripe account, Stripe also has to enable Bring Your Own Token, which can take one to several weeks.
- Update payment method page. Customers add a new card through an Update payment method checkout you place on your own account page. Link to that page from your reminder emails.
- Retries with a grace period. For failures a retry can fix, such as insufficient funds, FunnelFox Payments retries on a schedule with a grace period and partial charges, managed in one place whichever provider processed the renewal. A card expired decline isn’t retried: auto-renew turns off and the subscription expires.
Account updater runs at the network level through your payment provider or acquirer, so ask them whether it’s on for your account.
For how renewals are routed between providers, see our guide to intelligent payment routing, and for how tokens fit into a multi-provider setup, see payment orchestration. To see how it works together, visit FunnelFox Payments.
Keep renewals going,
even when cards change
FunnelFox Payments brings network tokens, an update-card checkout, grace periods, and failed-payment recovery into one platform, across all your payment providers.
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