Must know
- Retries. A failed automatic payment is tried again automatically, until the retries run out or your club’s grace period ends if it set one.
- Billing carries on. When retries run out, that period stays unpaid but the next one is still charged on schedule. A later successful charge brings back a lapsed membership or expired pass.
- The banner. Payment declined shows how many times it failed and the next attempt, with Update card and Pay now.
- Not your card. A club-side problem never counts as a decline.
What happens, in order
- The charge fails. You get the email “We couldn’t process your payment”, with an Update payment method link.
- It retries. Each decline sends another email. With a grace period, a membership keeps access and retries run until the grace period ends, then one final attempt. Without one, a membership’s access ends with its paid period while retries run.
- Retries run out. That period closes with its invoice unpaid. A pass expires, a membership becomes Lapsed, and the email is “Action needed: [athlete]‘s enrollment is at risk”. A punch card is not suspended. A program enrollment stays active and your club is told.
- Billing continues. The next period is charged on its normal date. Periods that ended in between are written off, not billed later. If that charge goes through, the membership or pass is Active again (a credits pass gets full credits) without contacting your club.
What you see
The banner. A declined membership payment shows a red Payment declined once banner on Memberships (then twice, and so on). It shows one sentence from the table, “[amount] owed since [date]”, and Update card and Pay now buttons.
On Invoices. While retries run, the upcoming Recurring payment shows the same banner on its Automatic payment card, worded for your access. It has Update card (no Pay now) and a Manage payment method link. The declined invoice, marked Failed, shows Last payment attempt failed.
Other signals. Memberships shows an Overdue badge while retries run and a red Lapsed badge once they run out, plus an alert reading “[athlete]‘s [membership] payment is overdue” with Update payment. Billing Details lists the charge as Past due under Subscriptions. The Failed tile on Invoices reads “Last charge declined”.
Special cases
- No card on file. It counts as a failed attempt (“No valid payment method on file”) and an invoice appears for you to pay.
- Card cannot be charged. For a blocked, expired or invalid card, the reason in the failure email adds “This card cannot be charged again, so please add a different payment method.”
- Club-side problem. A fault in the club’s payment setup is not a decline and sends no failure email.
- Processing. A charge still being confirmed shows as Processing. Don’t pay again; it settles on its own.
- Bank debit returned. It goes back into retries. See What does ‘Payment returned’ or ‘Charged back’ mean on my invoice?