On a product that only takes payments on certain days of the month, each member is given a payment day, and all their payments fall on it.
The first payment
The payment day is the first of the product's days on or after the day they join, or the membership's start if that is later. With the 1st and 15th ticked:
- Someone who joins on the 10th pays on the 15th.
- Someone who joins on the 16th pays on the 1st of the next month.
- Someone who joins on the 15th pays that day.
How it is collected depends on how the member pays:
- Card or direct debit: saved at joining and charged on the payment day. The membership is Active once approved. A signup for a period that starts later stays Pending until its start date, then becomes Active, and the first payment is still taken on the payment day. The charge doesn't wait for approval: an application still waiting on the day is charged anyway. A direct debit is submitted on the day and reaches you a few working days later.
- Cards that need verification: a card whose bank asks for 3D Secure fails, because the member isn't there to confirm it, and the normal failed-payment process takes over.
- Bank transfer or cheque: the first payment is due on the payment day, and the membership stays Pending until it is recorded. An annual payment is chased like an instalment.
The Portal join screen and the signup form show the date, for example "First payment of $10.00 on 15 October, then $10.00 on the 15th of each month." The joining email gives the same date.
Later payments
The number and amounts of payments don't change, only their dates, so the last payment can fall after the membership ends.
For example, a monthly membership runs 1 January to 31 December, payments are on the 15th, and a member joins on 20 January. They make 12 payments, from 15 February to 15 January. If they renew, the renewal's first payment is also on 15 January, and both are taken that day.
Where the payment day shows
- On the membership: Payment day shows beside Payment schedule in the Details card, for example "20th of the month". To move a member to another day, see Change a member's payment day.
- In the Portal: "Monthly on the 15th of the month".
Renewals, instalments and reinstating
- Renewals: a renewal keeps the member's day.
- Spreading a balance: when a member splits what they owe on the Portal Pay screen, the first part is taken that day and the rest monthly on their day, at least a month later.
- Reinstating: when you reinstate a lapsed or cancelled membership, its payment plan restarts on the member's day, and the confirmation tells you when the first payment is taken.
- Resolving a failed payment: Resolve failed payment puts the membership back to Pending so the member can pay from the Portal. Instalments paid by hand are set up again from the member's next payment day, and the confirmation says when.
Members created by a bulk run
A bulk run gives its memberships a payment day in the same way, and their first payment is due on that day rather than the run's Due date. See Set up a bulk run.