Failed Payments & Retries
Failed payment recovery helps reduce involuntary churn when customers intend to pay but a card, bank account, or external processor fails.
Floatless supports smart dunning workflows that combine retry timing, warning emails, subscription status updates, and suspension rules.
Common failure reasons
| Reason | What it means | Typical recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Insufficient funds | The account cannot cover the charge. | Retry later. |
| Card declined | The issuer rejected the payment. | Ask customer to update payment method. |
| Expired card | Payment method is no longer valid. | Ask customer to replace card. |
| Authentication required | Additional customer action is needed. | Send customer to hosted payment flow. |
| Processor issue | Temporary gateway or network failure. | Retry automatically. |
Dunning configuration
The billing operations settings control:
- Retry days.
- Warning email day.
- Suspension day.
- Whether retries run automatically.
- Whether warning and suspension emails are sent.
- Whether matched subscriptions are marked past due.
- Whether matched users are disabled on suspension.
Preview before executing
Use dry run before executing dunning. Dry run should show which invoices, subscriptions, and customers match the rules without collecting payment or changing subscription state.
Recommended operating model
- Retry soon after the initial failure for transient issues.
- Send a clear customer warning before service impact.
- Mark subscriptions past due when the unpaid state should be visible to support and finance.
- Suspend service only when your customer terms permit it.
- Review recovery reports weekly.