Cadence Calendar can automatically charge a family's saved card through Stripe whenever you create an invoice for their account, instead of waiting for the family to pay a link manually.
This article is for teachers and organization admins who want invoices to be paid automatically using a card the family has already saved.
Auto-charge requires:
Stripe connected, with charges enabled and onboarding complete
a card saved on file for the account
Before you can auto-charge an account, the family needs to save a payment method:
From the account page, send the family the card setup link.
The family opens the link and enters their card details in Stripe Checkout.
Once they finish, Stripe saves the card as the account's default payment method.
The account page shows the card is on file, including the card brand and last 4 digits.
If the family cancels the setup flow, no card is saved and the account page shows no card on file.
From the account page, you can delete a saved card at any time. This detaches the payment method in Stripe and clears the default payment method for the account, so future invoices for that account can no longer be auto-charged until a new card is saved.
When you create an invoice:
Go to Invoices > Add Invoice as usual.
Select the accounts to bill.
For any account that has a card on file, you can toggle on/off auto-charge for that account before submitting.
Submit the invoice.
For accounts with auto-charge turned on, Cadence Calendar creates a matching Stripe invoice for the amount due, finalizes it, and charges the saved card automatically. If the charge succeeds, the invoice is linked to the Stripe invoice so you can track its status.
If you pass Stripe processing fees to families, the auto-charged amount is increased to cover the fee, the same way it is for other online payments.
Invoice PDFs now include an auto-charge note when auto-charge is enabled. The note shows that the invoice will be charged automatically to the saved card.
The account page shows the status of any invoices that were auto-charged through Stripe, including:
the Stripe invoice status, for example open, paid, past due, or void
the number of payment attempts
the amount paid and amount remaining
the date of the next scheduled payment attempt, if a charge failed
a link to the hosted Stripe invoice
a timeline of Stripe activity, such as the invoice being created, finalized, voided, paid, or a payment attempt failing
If an automatic charge fails, Stripe retries the payment on the date shown in the activity timeline. The account page flags invoices that currently have an active payment failure so you know which accounts need follow-up. If there are many auto-charge invoices on the account, use See more to load additional recent ones.
Note: Stripe attempts the auto-charge immediately after the invoice reaches "finalized" status. However, before the invoice is finalized, Stripe holds it in a draft state for 1 hour. This allows you time to edit or review the invoice before finalizing and automatically charging the customer's saved payment method.
You can void a pending Stripe auto-charge invoice when it is still open.
To void it:
Open the account page and find the Auto-charge invoices section.
Open Auto-Charge Details for the invoice you want to manage.
If the Stripe status is Open, click Void, then confirm.
What happens next:
The Stripe invoice is voided and will not be charged automatically.
The activity timeline records that the pending auto-charge invoice was voided.
Notes:
You can only void Stripe auto-charge invoices with an Open status.
If the family pays the invoice manually online, Cadence Calendar automatically voids any pending auto-charge Stripe invoice for that invoice to prevent a duplicate charge.
Auto-charge on invoices and Auto-Pay both use a saved card, but they solve different problems:
Auto-Pay collects a fixed monthly subscription amount on a schedule you set, independent of any specific invoice.
Auto-charge on invoices charges the saved card for the actual amount of an invoice you create, so the amount can vary from one invoice to the next.
You can use either feature depending on whether you want a fixed recurring amount or a charge that matches each invoice you generate.
Create an invoice
Auto-Pay
Connect to Stripe
How families pay online
