Check failed payments in Rechargly
Go to the Invoices page.
Open the Failed tab to see any unsuccessful charges.
Click an invoice to review the details and take action if needed.
Note: The Failed tab shows invoices from signed agreements that haven't been processed.
Understanding why payments fail
Payments can fail for different reasons depending on the payment method:
Credit/debit card failures are usually caused by insufficient funds, expired cards, or the cardholder's bank declining the transaction. These are typically resolved by the client updating their card details.
Direct debit failures (e.g. BECS in Australia) have additional causes — the client's bank may reject the debit due to insufficient funds, a closed account, or an invalid BSB/account number. Direct debits also take 3–5 business days to clear, so failures may not appear immediately. For a detailed troubleshooting guide, see Troubleshooting Failed Stripe Direct Debit Payments.
Checking why a specific payment failed
Rechargly shows the failure reason when Stripe provides one:
Go to the Agreements page
Find the customer whose payment failed
The failure reason will be displayed when available
In some cases, Stripe does not receive a specific reason from the customer's bank. When this happens, the failure reason will show as generic or unavailable. If a payment is being blocked by the bank, ask the customer to contact their bank to authorize direct debits from Stripe.
How to retry a failed payment
Steps to follow
Log in to your Stripe Dashboard.
Go to the Customers tab and search for the client whose payment failed.
Open the customer's profile and look for the Invoice related to the failed payment.
In the top right corner of the invoice, click Charge customer.
Stripe's automatic retry schedule
Stripe automatically retries failed payments using its Smart Retries feature. By default, Stripe will attempt to charge the card up to 4 times over approximately 3 weeks. You can customise the retry schedule in your Stripe billing settings. If all retries fail, the invoice is marked as uncollectible.
Notify clients automatically (Stripe)
In Stripe, go to Revenue Recovery – Emails settings: Enable here.
Turn on Send emails when card payments fail.
Choose whether to link to a Stripe-hosted page or a custom link.
(Optional) Turn on Send emails about expiring cards to remind clients before their card expires.
Once enabled, Stripe will send email notifications directly to your clients if a payment fails or if their card is expiring.
Pro tip
If your team doesn't log in regularly, schedule a monthly review of the Failed tab in Rechargly to make sure nothing is missed.