Account updater

When a bank replaces a card because it expired, was lost or was stolen, the number or expiry date saved by the merchant stops working. An account updater lets the payment processor ask the card networks for the new details and update the saved card in the background, without asking the customer.

Coverage is not universal. The issuing bank must take part in the network program, and support varies by country: Stripe, for example, says automatic updates are widely supported for cards issued in the United States and that international support varies. Merchants usually cannot tell in advance which cards will be updated.

For a subscription business, an updater removes a share of avoidable failed renewals caused by expired or replaced cards. It works best alongside network tokens, card expiry reminders and a dunning sequence for the cards it cannot fix.