Billing, Auto-Renewals & Past Due Management for Memberships

How billing cycles, renewals, past-due status, and fixes work in Connection Card Pro.

This guide explains how billing works for Memberships in Connection Card Pro, how auto-renewals are handled, what Past Due means, and how to resolve or adjust billing issues when they come up.

📌 Who is this for? Admins/finance staff using the Memberships module to handle paid or visit-based memberships.

1) How Membership Billing Works (Big Picture)

Membership billing supports three main patterns:

1. Subscription — Auto-renewing (monthly, yearly, weekly, etc.).
2. Prepaid — Paid upfront for a fixed period; no auto-renew.
3. Pay-as-you-go / Overage — Charged per visit via Visit Pricing.
4. Free - Free memberships are also available but not discussed in this guide.

• Billing uses your payment processor (e.g., Stripe or Fortis), but is tracked as a membership, separately from any Recurring Giving.
• Each current membership (which ties to a member) has a Plan/Tier, a Billing Cycle Started date, and a Status (Active, Past Due, Canceled). You can find this list of memberships by going to Memberships > Members.

2) Subscription Memberships (Auto-Renewing)

A) When a Subscription Starts

• On creation, you set Billing Cycle Started (e.g., Jan 1, 2026).
• At that date the processor either:
  • charges for the first cycle, or
  • treats it as paid if you checked Mark Current Billing Cycle as Paid.

After that, the membership status is Active.

B) Auto-Renewal Behavior

• At the start of each new cycle, the processor attempts to charge the stored payment method.
• On success:
  • Status remains Active.
  • The transaction posts to the plan’s configured register / fund / income account.

3) Prepaid Memberships

• Paid in full at the beginning (e.g., $100 for one year).
• No auto-renewal; access remains Active through the prepaid period.
• Canceling takes effect at the end of the prepaid period.
• To extend, create a new term or adjust dates per your policy.

Great for gift memberships, annual or monthly passes, or cases where you don’t want automatic charges.

4) Pay-As-You-Go & Overage Billing

For pay-as-you-go memberships and visit overages, billing is driven by Visit Pricing:

• Define Non-Member Price and Member Overage Price, plus applicable days/times and accounting.

1. When a visit is recorded (kiosk or staff), Connection Card Pro checks membership and included-visit usage.
2. It applies either the Non-Member Price or the Member Overage Price.

🔗 See the Visit Pricing guide for setup details.

5) Past Due Memberships

A) How a Membership Becomes Past Due

• At cycle start, the processor attempts to charge.
• If payment fails or isn’t completed, Connection Card Pro:
  • flags the cycle as unpaid, and
  • sets Status to Past Due.

B) What Past Due Means

• The current billing period is not paid.
• Status remains Past Due until:
  • a payment succeeds, or
  • you mark the cycle as paid, or
  • the membership is canceled (ends at cycle end).

Operational policy (grace periods / access restrictions) is up to your team.

6) Fix Billing Issues & Mark a Cycle as Paid

A) When to Use “Mark Current Billing Cycle as Paid”

• The member paid you outside the system (cash/check, external terminal).
• You imported existing memberships and want to start billing next cycle.
• You resolved the payment manually and need Connection Card Pro to reflect the paid status.

B) How to Mark a Cycle as Paid

1. Memberships > Memberships → Edit the member.
2. Check Mark Current Billing Cycle as Paid.
3. Save.

Result: Status returns to Active (assuming other settings are valid) and the next automatic charge is scheduled for the next cycle start.

⚠️ Only mark as paid if you’ve actually collected the funds.

7) Member Self-Service for Billing (Personal Hub)

Members can help resolve issues themselves:

• Update payment method used for membership billing.
• Cancel their membership (effective at cycle end).
• View membership details and status.

Past Due guidance for members:

1. Log in to the Personal Hub.
2. Open Memberships.
3. Update payment method.
4. After a successful charge (or once you mark the cycle paid), status returns to Active.

8) Cancellations & End-of-Cycle Behavior

A) Canceling

• Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing cycle.
• Status remains Active until the cycle ends.
• For prepaid, access continues through the prepaid term.

Admin: Memberships > Memberships → Cancel → confirm.
Member: cancel from the Personal Hub (same end-of-cycle behavior).

B) Restarting After Cancellation

• Create a new membership (set a new Billing Cycle Started if needed).
• Reuse the prior tier or move to a different one.

9) Examples

Example 1 — Card Expired, Membership Past Due

Situation: Jane’s annual renewal fails; status becomes Past Due.

1. Ask Jane to update her payment method in the Personal Hub.
2. Then either:
   • Wait for the processor’s next retry, or
   • Charge externally and then Mark Current Billing Cycle as Paid in Connection Card Pro.

Result: Status returns to Active; next auto-renew occurs at the next cycle start.

Example 2 — Migrating Existing Members Into Connection Card Pro

1. Build Membership Plans/tiers.
2. For each member: Memberships > Memberships > Add New:
   • Member: select person.
   • Billing Cycle Started: set to the next renewal date.
   • Mark Current Billing Cycle as Paid: checked (they already paid current period).
   • Membership Plan: choose tier.

Result: Connection Card Pro treats the current period as paid and bills automatically at the next renewal.

10) Summary

• Subscriptions auto-renew; Prepaid are paid in full; Pay-as-you-go/Overages use Visit Pricing.
• Past Due = a scheduled payment failed or was missed.
• Use Mark Current Billing Cycle as Paid after external payments or processor-side fixes.
• Cancellations always end at the current cycle’s end (prepaid runs through its term).
• Members can resolve common issues in the Personal Hub (update payment method, cancel).