When a credit card is declined or an ACH bank transfer fails, Giving considers this a "failed" donation. Previously, failed payments that stemmed from recurring donations did not show in a donor's history – now they do.
As a result, recurring billing problems should be more apparent when looking at a donor's profile.
As an administrator, you can always find out why a payment failed by clicking on the donation and scrolling down to the Adjustment History.
There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to failed donations:
- Donors are emailed "Failed Recurring Donation Payment" alerts every time a payment failure happens. This has always been the case and there's no change to that practice.
- When making a one-time donation on the web or via the Church Center mobile app, we don't have to wait to tell the donor that their donation "failed" due to a billing issue. When a card is declined, they're shown the error message instantly and no donation is created within the system.
Hopefully, you can use this new functionality to help your donors when it's obvious there's an ongoing billing issue with their card or bank account. Chances are, they probably need to update their email address as well!