You are permitted to authorize recurring schedules over the phone that debit a credit card account. The authorization requires that your customer understand the conditions under which the business is permitted to debit the account (such as amount, date, and frequency), as well as conditions for termination or change of the authorization.
Typical Uses: There are three typical uses for recurring credit card transactions:
Payments for the same amount on a regular schedule, such as weekly or monthly service fees.
Payments for a different amount on a regular schedule, such as utility bills.
Payment plans for discharging a large debt, such as installment payments on a large purchase.
Get verbal authorization over the phone from your customer to authorize the schedule.
Send your customer a schedule confirmation via mail or email that includes:
The amount of the recurring transaction (or the amount range for a variable schedule).
The frequency of the debits (how often you will charge your customer).
The schedule start date, and end date (if defined).
Instructions for terminating the schedule.
Your business address and a phone number answered during regular business hours.
Mail or email a receipt for each payment made as part of the schedule.
Mail or email notification to your customer at least 10 days in advance of any change to the schedule amount or frequency.
What ReceivablesPro Does For You:
When you check the “Send a receipt to the customer” checkbox in the TRANSACTION RECEIPTS section of the Settings--> Configuration--> Email Preferences and Templates screen, the system will automatically send all required emails to your customers (steps 2, 3, and 4 above) for all ReceivablesPro schedules.
Additional Recommendation:
Send a pre-notification email to your customer prior to the date the scheduled payment is processed. The default setting for pre-notification emails is “on” with the pre-notification sent 1 day prior to the payment date. You can change this on a global basis in the Settings--> Configuration--> Email Preferences and Templates screen. Select the “No” radio button for pre-notifications if you don’t want to send them. Or, change the number of days prior (choose from 1 to 10 days) that the pre-notification email is sent. You can also make this change on a case-by-case basis for each individual recurring payment schedule when you create it.