The most common cause of an unexpected service interruption is not a technical fault. It is a card that expired quietly between renewals.
Where payment methods live
In the Billing section of the client area, under payment methods. You can store more than one and nominate which is used by default. Each stored card carries its own expiry date and billing address.
Add the new card before removing the old one
Removing a card that is attached to services can leave those services with no valid method. Add the replacement, set it as default, confirm it is shown as such, and only then remove the old one.
Why cards get declined
In rough order of frequency:
- Expired. The card was fine last year. It is not fine now.
- Address mismatch. The billing address stored with the card must match what the bank holds. This is checked on every charge, not just when the card is added, so moving offices can break a card that has worked for years.
- Bank fraud hold. Recurring charges to technology vendors are a common trigger, particularly the first one after a period of inactivity. Your bank will usually clear it on a phone call.
- Corporate card controls. Cards with merchant category restrictions or single-use limits will decline predictably. Ask your finance team before assuming a fault.
- Insufficient funds on a debit card at the moment the charge ran.
Getting ahead of it
- Set a calendar reminder for a month before the card's expiry date. This is the single most effective habit here.
- Store a second card as a fallback where your organisation allows it.
- Put a billing contact on the account who is not the same person as the technical contact, so a payment failure notice reaches someone who can act on it.
- Read the article on the emails we send, so a "payment failed" message is recognised rather than skimmed.
If a payment has already failed
Do not wait for an automatic retry. Log in, update the payment method, then pay the outstanding invoice manually from the Billing section. That settles it immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled attempt.
Security note
Enter card details only in the client area, reached by typing our address into your browser yourself. We will never call or email asking you to read out card details, and we will never send you a link that collects them. If you receive a message that does either, it is not from us — see the article on recognising phishing.
