Failed payments

When a monthly renewal is declined, we email you the same day. The course stays open for 5 days from the renewal date while Stripe retries the card. Update your card and we try the payment again straight away. If nothing has gone through after those 5 days, your access pauses until a payment does.

What you will see

The email

Subject Payment failed for [course], with the date your access runs to and Update my card.

Payment Issue

The status on the course's Billing & Subscription tab and in Settings → Billing during the 5 days. A notice asks you to update your card.

Your access is paused

What the course shows once the 5 days have passed, with the card form on the same screen.

When your bank asks you to approve it

Some banks ask you to approve a payment yourself, a renewal included (3-D Secure). The email is then Approve your payment for [course], with Approve the payment. Approve it on Stripe's page and the renewal goes through as normal. A new card would be asked the same, so approving it is the fix. The same 5 days apply while it waits.

Where we collect tax, a renewal needs a billing address complete enough to work out the tax. If yours is not, nothing is charged and the email is Check your billing address for [course]. Update your card, give your full billing address on Stripe's page, and we charge the renewal at once.

How to update your card

1. 1.

   Open the course. During the 5 days, choose Billing & Subscription and find Payment Method. Once access is paused, the card form is on the screen the course opens to.

2. 2.

   Choose Update, or Add Payment Method. Stripe's secure page opens.

3. 3.

   Enter the card and save it. You come back to the course.

4. 4.

   We put the card on your subscription and try the failed payment at once. If it goes through, the message reads Card updated, and your renewal payment went through. and the course opens.

What happens next

If the new card is declined too, the message says so and the course stays paused until a payment goes through. Stripe also keeps retrying on its own schedule. If Stripe stops retrying, the subscription ends; your progress is kept, and you can enrol again from the course page whenever you like.

Rules and limits

• The 5 days count from the renewal date, not from each retry.
• Your progress, certificate and achievements are kept while access is paused.
• A failed charge at the end of a free trial also pauses access. A new card is then charged within a day, with the course open until then. See Free trials.

If something goes wrong

"Your card was saved, but the renewal payment was declined…"

The new card was declined too. Your bank can tell you why; try a different card.

"Your card was saved. Your bank wants you to approve the renewal payment before it goes through."

Choose Approve the payment and approve it on Stripe's page.

"Payment method setup was cancelled."

You left Stripe's page before saving. Nothing changed, so start again.

The course is still paused after paying

Reload the page. If it is still paused, contact support with the date of the charge.