Disable Automatic Payments

Stop automatic payment attempts on invoices and billing schedules

Disable automatic payments when customers request manual payment, when invoices require approval before payment, or when you need to prevent charges during disputes. You can disable autopay on individual invoices, stop autopay for future invoices from billing schedules, remove account default payment methods, or cancel invoices entirely to prevent any payment attempts.

Disabling autopay on invoices before the due date prevents automatic charges. If an automatic payment is already being processed, disabling autopay may not stop it immediately. Disable autopay well before the due date to ensure payment is prevented.

Prerequisites

Before disabling automatic payments, ensure you understand:

Autopay overview

Understand how automatic payments work and eligibility requirements.

Enable autopay

See how autopay is configured to understand how to disable it.

Disabling Autopay on Invoices

Prevent automatic payment attempts on specific invoices.

disable-invoice.py

import payload
 
pl = payload.Session('secret_key_3bW9...', api_version='v2')
 
# Disable autopay on a specific invoice
 
invoice_id = 'inv_abc123'
 
updated = pl.Invoice.get(invoice_id)
 
 
updated.update(
    autopay_settings={
        'allowed': False,
    },
)  # Disable automatic payment
 
print(f'Invoice updated: {updated.id}')
print(f'Autopay disabled: {not updated.autopay_settings['allowed']}')
print('Manual payment required')
print(f'Amount due: {updated.totals['balance_due']}')

What happens when you disable autopay:

Invoice will not be automatically charged on due date
Customer must pay invoice manually
Invoice remains in current status (unpaid or partially_paid)

Check invoice autopay status

# Check if autopay is enabled on an invoice
invoice = pl.Invoice.get("inv_abc123")
 
print("Autopay enabled:", invoice.autopay_settings["allowed"])
print("Due date:", invoice.due_date)
print("Balance due:", invoice.totals["balance_due"])
 
if invoice.autopay_settings["allowed"]:
    print("Will be automatically charged on due date")
else:
    print("Requires manual payment")

Re-enable autopay on invoice

# Enable autopay on an invoice that was previously disabled
invoice = pl.Invoice.get("inv_abc123")
 
invoice.update(
    autopay_settings={
        "allowed": True
    }
)
 
print("Autopay re-enabled:", invoice.autopay_settings["allowed"])
print("Will charge on:", invoice.due_date)

Timing Matters: If an automatic payment is already being processed, disabling autopay would not stop it. Always disable autopay well before the due date if you need to prevent the charge.

Disabling Autopay on Billing Schedules

Stop automatic payment for future invoices generated from billing schedules.

disable-schedule.py

import payload
 
pl = payload.Session('secret_key_3bW9...', api_version='v2')
 
# Disable autopay on a billing schedule
 
schedule_id = 'bscd_abc123'
 
updated = pl.BillingSchedule.get(schedule_id)
 
 
updated.update(
    autopay_settings={
        'allowed': False,  # Disable autopay on future invoices
    },
)
 
print(f'Billing schedule updated: {updated.id}')
print(f'Autopay disabled: {not updated.autopay_settings['allowed']}')
print('Future invoices will require manual payment')
print('Already-created invoices retain their autopay settings')

What happens when you disable schedule autopay:

Future invoices generated from schedule will have autopay disabled
Already-created invoices retain their individual autopay settings
Schedule continues generating invoices on schedule
Customers must pay future invoices manually

Impact on existing invoices

# Disabling autopay only affects future invoices
schedule = pl.BillingSchedule.get("bscd_abc123")
 
schedule.update(
    autopay_settings={
        "allowed": False
    }
)
 
print("Future invoices will require manual payment")
print("Next invoice date:", schedule.next_invoice_date)

Future invoices generated after this change will have autopay_settings.allowed: false.

# Find and disable autopay on already-created invoices
schedule = pl.BillingSchedule.get("bscd_abc123")
 
# Get all unpaid invoices from this schedule
invoices = pl.Invoice.filter_by(
    billing_schedule_id=schedule.id,
    q='status != "paid" && status != "closed"'
).all()
 
# Disable autopay on each invoice
for invoice in invoices:
    if invoice.autopay_settings["allowed"]:
        invoice.update(
            autopay_settings={"allowed": False}
        )
        print(f"Disabled autopay on invoice: {invoice.id}")

Already-created invoices require individual updates to disable autopay.

Already-Created Invoices: Changing autopay settings on a billing schedule only affects future invoices. To stop autopay on already-created invoices, update each invoice individually or remove the account's default payment method.

Removing Default Payment Methods

Remove account-level default payment methods to stop all automatic payments.

Remove default status

# Remove default status from payment method
method = pl.PaymentMethod.get("pm_card_789")
 
method.update(
    account_defaults={
        "paying": None  # No longer default for payments
    }
)
 
print("Default payment method removed")
print("No invoices will be automatically charged for this account")

Account-wide autopay control:

Removing the default payment method stops all automatic payments
Existing autopay-enabled invoices won't be charged
Can be re-enabled by setting a new default payment method

Set new default payment method

# Set a different payment method as default
new_default = pl.PaymentMethod.get("pm_card_456")
 
new_default.update(
    account_defaults={
        "paying": "payments"  # Set as new default
    }
)
 
print("New default payment method:", new_default.id)
print("Future automatic payments will use this method")
print("Previous default automatically removed")

Automatic default removal:

Setting a new default automatically removes default status from previous method
Only one payment method can be default for payments at a time
Customer can switch defaults without manually removing old default

Customer Portal: Provide customers with an easy way to manage their default payment method. Allow them to temporarily disable autopay by removing the default, then easily re-enable by setting a default again.

Alternative Ways to Stop Autopay

Other methods to prevent automatic payment attempts.

# Cancel an invoice to prevent automatic payment
invoice = pl.Invoice.get("inv_abc123")
 
invoice.update(
    status="closed"
)
 
print("Invoice status:", invoice.status)
print("No payment will be attempted")
print("Invoice is closed and cannot be paid")

Close an invoice to prevent automatic payment while maintaining records.

When to cancel invoices:

Invoice created in error
Customer refund or credit issued instead
Service cancelled before invoice due
Disputed charges being written off
Correcting billing mistakes

# Delete invoice to permanently prevent payment
invoice = pl.Invoice.get("inv_abc123")
invoice.delete()
 
print("Invoice deleted - no automatic payment possible")
print("Use with caution - deletion is permanent")

Permanently remove an invoice to prevent payment. Use with caution.

When to delete invoices:

Test invoices in sandbox environment
Duplicate invoices created by mistake
Completely removing erroneous invoices
Early development and testing

Deletion is Permanent: Deleting an invoice removes all records and cannot be undone. Use status: 'closed' instead if you need to maintain records for accounting or audit purposes.

# Stop a billing schedule from generating future invoices
from datetime import date
 
today = date.today().isoformat()
 
schedule = pl.BillingSchedule.get("bscd_abc123")
 
schedule.update(
    end_date=today
)
 
print("Billing schedule stopped")
print("No future invoices will be generated")
print("Existing invoices unaffected")

Stop invoice generation entirely by setting an end date on the billing schedule.

Stopping vs disabling autopay:

Setting end_date stops invoice generation entirely
Disabling autopay_settings.allowed continues generating invoices but requires manual payment
Choose based on whether you want to stop billing or just stop automatic payment

Next Steps

Continue managing automatic payments and processing manual payments

Re-enable Autopay

Set up automatic payments again with Enable Autopay to configure default payment methods, understand how automatic payment processing works with Autopay Overview for eligibility and retry logic, and track payment success with Monitor Autopay to troubleshoot and optimize collection.

Process Manual Payments

Process manual invoice payments with Payment API for programmatic payment processing, send payment links to customers with Payment Requests via email or SMS, and record offline payments with External Payments for cash, check, and wire transfers.

Manage Schedules and Invoices

Manage schedule settings with Update Billing Schedules to modify frequencies and autopay settings, understand invoice progression with Invoice Statuses for tracking unpaid to paid transitions, and build individual invoices with Creating Invoices for one-time charges.

Enable Autopay - Set up automatic payments
Monitor Autopay - Track automatic payment activity
Autopay Overview - How automatic payments work
Update Billing Schedules - Manage schedule autopay
Payment API - Process manual payments
Payment Requests - Send payment links

Autopay Enrollment Monitoring