Recurring payments – what are they? What are the advantages?

Recurring payments allow the individual to pay for goods or services in instalments instead of one lump sum. They are usually set up so that a large sum of money can be paid in more manageable chunks by the customer. A customer can set up a recurring payment by selecting the item they wish to pay for and entering their card details.

Once this is done, payments will be taken from the customer’s account at regular intervals (weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly,etc) for the given amount of instalments.

The organisation can choose how many instalments to offer and how often the payments are to be made. In the example below the €250.00 sum is broken up into 4 monthly instalments.

Option to choose recurring payments or to pay in total

Does the individual have to enter their details each time a payment is due?

No! Once the individual has signed up for an instalment plan the payments will automatically run on the designated date. With Easy Payments Plus a reminder that a payment is due is automatically sent to the payer 5 days in advance of the payment. This gives the payer the opportunity to check that the card details are correct and sufficient funds are available for the payment.

What if I lose my card/cancel my card?

With an EPP account there is a facility to add a new card so that your recurring payments are then taken from the new card. With EPP the customer can change their card by clicking on ‘My Account’>’Recurring Payments’ and selecting the relevant payment. Once the new card is added payments will run automatically just as before.

To cancel an instalment/recurring plan you can contact the organisation you are paying and cancel the plan.

Can I offer a deposit payment and an instalment plan subsequently?

Yes! This works similarly to the standard recurring payments option but requires an initial deposit to be paid. Again, the organisation can decide how many instalments there are in the plan and how often they run. The frequency of the instalments can vary from weekly up to yearly.

In the example below the deposit is paid immediately and the balance is split into two manageable instalments.

Deposit & Balance option

If you want to find out more about recurring payments let us know – email us