How Subscription (Recurring) Payments Work
In This Article:
How do subscription payments work?
AdvicePay's subscription feature makes it easy for you, as once you enter your payment information and activate a subscription, no further action is needed!
Auto-payments will be made every month, every quarter, or semi-annually through your checking account or credit card until you or your advisor cancels the subscription, or the subscription period ends.
We can also help you keep track of your payments by sending you an email notification 7 days before you're billed, and then sending you a confirmation email once the billing occurs.
📍 Manage your email notifications
Example of the Subscription Process:
- Your advisor creates a monthly subscription invoice with October 1 as the due date
- You sign in and approve the payment on September 15
- AdvicePay will wait to automatically deduct the payment from your bank account/credit card on October 1
- The subscription will then continue billing on November 1, December 1, and so on!
📍 Making late subscription payments -- what happens?
Changing your subscription payment method
If you ever wish to pay with a different credit card or bank account after you have set up your subscription, you can do so through Account Settings > Billing.
We will bill the account you have on file that is labeled as the Default, so by adding a new payment method and making it the default, your subscription will bill the new account on the next due date!
📍 How to manage your payment methods
Subscription fee changes
Important: In order to accept or deny an increase on your subscription, you must first have an AdvicePay account created since it will prompt you to login. If you do not yet have an account created, please reach out to your advisor for an invitation link, or to support@advicepay.com for a registration link.
Depending on your planning agreement with your advisor, they may set you up with a subscription where the amount is set to escalate annually. Or, they may manually raise or lower your fee while your subscription is active.
- Fee increases must be approved by you via your account before they will take effect!
- Fee decreases will take place automatically.
When activating new subscriptions with scheduled increases, you will see a clear message letting you know at the very start of the activation/payment process. Activation of the subscription is also approval of the included fee increase:
Tip: You'll receive a friendly reminder email the month before the increase is scheduled to go into effect so there are no surprises! You can also click View Details on your subscription anytime to see a reminder message about the impending increase.
If a fee increase is added after your subscription is activated, you'll receive an email alerting you that your approval of the change is needed.
Example Email:
By following the link and logging into your account, you'll have the opportunity to Accept or Decline the change by View Details page. If you need to create your account or access your account but forgot your password, please click this link here or the link at the bottom of this page:
Here's a quick glimpse of the process:
If you select Decline, the escalation will not be applied and the subscription will continue billing at its existing amount.
Canceling automatic subscription payments
You can cancel your subscription anytime by clicking the drop down menu for a subscription and selecting Cancel Subscription:
Advisors can also cancel subscriptions for you.
If you cancel a subscription by mistake, don't worry! If you contact your advisor to let them know, they will be able to create a new subscription for you. 😀
Note: we're unable to put a "stop payment" from our end on any charge that has already been made to your account. If you need to stop a payment before you're billed, you can do so by canceling the subscription from your own AdvicePay dashboard or asking your advisor to pause your subscription! If your payment was made via ACH, you may be able to stop an already-charged payment by contacting your bank directly. Alternatively, your advisor can issue you a refund after the payment finishes processing.