Recurring Without a Plan

Channels: Direct Methods: Card · BECS

You don’t need a payment plan to bill repeatedly. If your billing logic lives in your own system — usage-based charges, irregular invoicing, per-order billing for repeat customers — just charge the saved method whenever your system decides it’s time.

When to choose this over a payment plan

Your billing is…	Use
A fixed amount on a fixed cycle (e.g. $49/month)	Payment plan — scheduling, retries, and failure handling are built in
Variable amounts, usage-based, or on your own trigger	This pattern — you decide when and how much
A single known future charge	Scheduled payment — one intent with a future date

The pattern

1. Save the payment method once, with consent that covers ongoing charges
2. When your system determines a charge is due, create + confirm a payment intent with the saved pm_xxx and an Idempotency-Key (e.g. your invoice ID) so reruns are safe
3. React to webhooks: payment_intent.succeeded closes the invoice, payment_intent.failed drives your retry/dunning logic

Retries and dunning are yours

Unlike payment plans, nothing retries automatically. Own your policy:

• space retries out (e.g. 3 attempts over a week) rather than retrying immediately
• for BECS, wait for the dishonour before retrying — a processing intent is not a failure
• tell the customer when a charge fails; an updated card or account fixes most failures

Every charge you make this way is a merchant-initiated transaction under the consent captured at save time — ElasticPay attaches the scheme and mandate evidence automatically. See Stored Credentials & Recurring Charges.