What is Credit Card Updater?
Definition
An automated service that updates expired or replaced credit card details with subscription merchants to prevent payment failures.
Understanding Credit Card Updater
Credit card updaters are offered by card networks (Visa Account Updater, Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater) and help prevent involuntary churn. When your card is replaced (expired, lost, or compromised), the card updater service automatically provides your new card details to subscription merchants who participate in the program. This ensures uninterrupted service without manual card updates.
However, it also means subscriptions continue billing even if you intended to let them lapse with the old card. If you want to use a card expiration as a natural cancellation point, you need to explicitly cancel before getting the new card.
Related Terms
Involuntary Churn
Subscriber loss that occurs due to payment failures rather than the customer's deliberate choice to cancel.
Dunning
The automated process of retrying failed subscription payments and communicating with subscribers about payment issues to recover revenue.
Payment Method
The financial instrument used to pay for a subscription, such as a credit card, debit card, PayPal, or bank account.
Auto-Renewal
A feature that automatically renews a subscription at the end of each billing cycle without requiring manual action from the user.