What is Account Updater (AU)?

AU automatically updates account numbers and expiration dates for cards on file with your Automated Recurring Billing (ARB) subscriptions and Customer Information Manager (CIM) profiles. This helps avoid interruptions to recurring payments and unnecessary declines due to outdated card details.

How to Register for AU

1. Log in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Tools > Account Updater > Sign Up Now.
3. Enter your Industry/Merchant Category Code (MCC).
4. Review the agreement and fees, then click I Agree.
5. Your registration will take approximately two hours to complete.

Choosing Profiles for AU

You can exclude individual payment profiles from being updated by AU either manually in the Merchant Interface or programmatically via API with an updateCustomerPaymentProfileRequest.

Manual Exclusion of a Payment Profile

1. Log in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Tools > Customer Information Manager.
3. Search for the profile, edit it, and check the box to exclude it from monthly updates.

Automatic Updates with AU

AU runs on a monthly schedule and cannot be manually triggered. All Visa and MasterCard stored payments within your account are submitted for updates unless excluded.

Supported Card Types

Only Visa and MasterCard are supported by AU.

Billing for AU

Your account will be debited on the first of the month following the last update, with charges based on per-response from AU. The responses include:

• New Account Number (NAN)
• New Expiration Date (NED)
• Account Closed (ACL)
• Contact Card Holder (CCH).

AU Results

AU can return a new account number, new expiration date, advice to contact the cardholder, a notice that the account has been closed, or no response if no changes were reported.

Viewing AU Reports

1. Log in to the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Reports > Account Updater Reports.
3. Select the month to view and click Run Report.
4. To view more than the first 100 records, use the Download to File option.

AU Reports via API

You can use getAUJobSummary and getAUJobDetails API calls to retrieve AU reports.

Charging an Updated Card

AU updates the original Payment Profile ID, allowing your website to continue using it. If you use Automatic Recurring Billing, the Payment Profile associated with any Active Subscriptions will also be updated.

AU Service Schedule & Updates

AU starts on the 4th of every month and runs in batches till month-end. If you enable AU before the 3rd, you will get updates for the current month. If enabled after the 3rd, updates start from the following month. AU reports are available the following month.

Unchanging Customer Payment Information

AU uses data supplied by the card networks, which are provided by card issuers. If a customer's payment data seems to continually update without changes, the cardholder should contact their issuer for clarification. Cardholders can opt-out of AU service with their issuer, impacting the information AU has on file.

ARB Subscription Statuses & Updates

Only Active or Suspended subscriptions get updated by AU. If an active subscription receives an Account Closed (ACL) or Contact Card Holder (CCH) response, the subscription is suspended.

ACL Responses & Suspended Subscriptions

Subscriptions that received an ACL response and are now suspended will be terminated if not updated with current payment information before the next payment.

ACL Response & CIM Payment Profiles

Payment profiles associated with a Customer Profile that receive an ACL response will be deleted. To reference previous transactions, use the Transaction Search feature.

AU Service Availability

AU service is available only to U.S./North American processing accounts.

Cancelling AU Service

1. Log into the Merchant Interface.
2. Click Tools > Account Updater > Discontinue Account Updater Service.

Note that cancellation applies to future batches only and will not stop updates for the current month if the AU batch has already started.