Recurring invoices and auto pay

Recurring invoices let you set up a schedule once and have HLB send invoices to customers automatically. Turn on auto pay and the amount is charged to a card on each due date. This suits subscriptions, retainers, memberships and installment billing.

To create one, open Invoices in the Payments section, click New and choose New Recurring Template. Set how often invoices go out (daily, weekly, monthly or yearly), when billing starts, whether it stops after a set number of invoices or runs indefinitely, and how many days ahead of the due date each invoice is sent. You can also send recurring invoices from a workflow with the Send Recurring Invoice action.

Card options for auto payment:

• Customer card: the card the customer uses for their first payment on the template, charged from the next invoice onward.
• Saved card: a card already saved for that customer.
• New card: card details you enter, which are checked with a small minimum charge and saved for later use.

Customers are notified before each automatic charge, and both you and the customer are told whether each charge succeeded or failed. If you edit an invoice before it is charged, it is not charged automatically, and HLB emails you so you can share the updated invoice.

If a charge fails, it is retried two more times, 24 hours apart. After that, the customer has to pay manually. If they pay with a new card, that card is used for future charges.

To turn auto payment on or off for a template that is already running, use Manage Auto-payments in the invoice builder. Click Details on a template to see each invoice's status: Sent, Overdue, Paid or Not Sent.