Dunning FAQs

Answer common questions about how Advanced Billing behaves when Subscriptions are in dunning. Using real scenarios, this FAQ clarifies what happens when Customers update their card while in dunning, how to distinguish user-initiated cancellations from those triggered by an expired dunning process, and how renewals behave when a billing cycle ends mid-dunning. Support and billing teams can use this FAQ to quickly interpret dunning-related events and Subscription states.

What happens if a Customer is in dunning and they update their card?

Advanced Billing immediately attempts to collect the past-due balance, the same as if you'd manually clicked Retry/Reactivate.

How can I tell if a Customer canceled a Subscription, or if it was canceled due to dunning?

The cancellation_message field on a Subscription canceled for non-payment reads "Canceled after failed automatic dunning process expired."

A Subscription canceled after dunning may still have a valid card that simply didn't have sufficient funds or credit to process the payment.

What happens when a Subscription's current billing cycle ends while it's still in dunning?

The Subscription still attempts to renew, even if a dunning step isn't defined for the day the billing cycle ends.

What happens when a Term Subscription's term end date passes while it's still in dunning?

Unlike an Evergreen Subscription, a Term Subscription expires at its term end date even if a dunner is still actively retrying — dunning no longer blocks expiration. The dunner keeps retrying against the Subscription's existing open Invoice after expiration; no new Invoices, periods, or renewal charges are created. If the dunning strategy is exhausted after the Subscription has already expired, the Subscription is not canceled — it stays Expired.

Related information

To understand how the overall dunning process works, see Understanding How Dunning Works.

To stop the dunning process on a specific Subscription, see Cancel Dunning on Past-Due Subscriptions.

To update a Customer's payment method, see Update Subscription Payment Method.