• Home
  • Solutions
  • Industries
    • Propane
    • Jewelers
    • Enterprise & B2B
    • Printing
    • Healthcare
    • Newspaper & Media
    • Ecommerce & Retail
  • Software Companies
    • Partner Portal Login
  • Developers
  • Merchants
  • Insights
    • Blog
    • Integrated Payment Systems: The Ultimate Guide for Merchants
  • About
    • About Us
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
Contact Us

Home » Blog » Card Account Updaters: Your Guide for 2025

Card Account Updaters: Your Guide for 2025

  • January 23, 2025

As we enter the new year, it’s important for merchants to think about revenue churn and expired cards. Especially for propane and news media companies that keep cards on file for autopay arrangements or subscriptions, customers failing to update their card information is a significant contributor to lost revenue. 

Card account updaters (CAUs) give merchants a way to recapture revenue that they’d otherwise lose when customers’ payment information changes and isn’t updated. Here, we’ll be exploring how an account updater service can help you boost revenue in 2025 by reducing churn, lowering your administrative costs, streamlining workflows, and more. 

If you’re tired of losing sales and want to start this year off on a better foot, this post is for you.

What Is an Account Updater? 

CAUs help businesses keep their payment data current by automatically updating customers’ card information when anything changes — whether a card is lost, stolen, or simply expires and a new one is issued. 

One of the main draws of CAUs is their simplicity — merchants don’t need to take any action, and customers aren’t inconvenienced in the slightest. Cards are stored in the gateway vault, and the vault interacts with the card issuer automatically to identify changes that need to be made. In fact, it’s so hands-off that a merchant probably won’t even know a change occurred, because the system does all the work. 

How do CAUs update card information?

Here’s a step-by-step outline of how CAUs go about updating card information.  

  1. The credit card provider gets in touch with the bank that issued the customer’s card. The bank pulls and securely sends the customer’s most current payment information, such as their account number and expiration date. 
  2. The credit card network securely sends the new account information back to the payment processor. 
  3. The payment processor will then make any necessary updates to the merchant’s records, allowing future charges to be made to the customer’s new card. 
  4. Finally, the credit card network and payment processor will update their respective records as well, completing the circuit for the card update.

Compared to asking shoppers or subscribers to manually update their payment information, CAUs offer a more convenient customer experience. 

How Can an Account Updater Save You Money in 2025?

Especially for businesses that rely on recurring payments and automatic billing, account updater services can be extremely useful. 

Among other benefits, a CAU can help you: 

  • Reduce payment failures 
  • Maintain a healthy cash flow 
  • Provide a better customer experience, and more

Let’s look at some specific reasons why merchants are opting for CAUs in 2025, and how doing so can save you money while boosting revenue. 

Reducing Customer Churn

If a customer’s payment fails due to their card needing to be updated, there’s a decent chance of two negative outcomes:

  • They make a mental note to update their payment data, but never circle back to do it, leading to involuntary churn.
  • They reevaluate how much they actually need your products or services, and decide to churn. 

An automatic billing updater can help you avoid both of those scenarios, reducing your churn rates and increasing your annual recurring revenue (ARR). 

Lowering Administrative Costs

For merchants, payment failures are expensive, and not just in terms of lost revenue. Companies also need to factor in the time spent following up with customers whose cards have declined, or even wasting precious time on manual payment processing. 

Over the course of a year, those backend administrative costs add up, resulting in less free cash flow and more budgetary stress. By automating card updates with a CAU, companies can lower their administrative costs.

Creating Operational Efficiencies 

Every time someone at your company manually gets involved in a transaction, you’re looking at two major problems: 

  1. They’re not making the best use of their time. 
  2. There’s a very real possibility of human error, which will inconvenience the customer, potentially causing them to churn. 

CAUs represent a hands-off way for companies to update payment information when necessary. This eliminates the need for employees to update customers’ card information themselves, paving the way to greater efficiency for merchants. 

Improving Cash Flow 

When a customer’s card expires or they change their account details, payment failures can lead to cash flow delays. Especially for SMBs with limited free cash flow, this presents a major problem. 

A CAU can help merchants keep their cash flow steady and reliable by ensuring that customers’ payment information is always up to date. 

Which Credit Card Brands Offer CAUs? 

Each of the four major credit card companies — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover — offers some type of CAU service for merchants. Visa, for instance, offers its Visa Account Updater, while Mastercard has its Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater. 

Each CAU works in roughly the same way, but has slightly different rules and processes. This means that merchants need to check for payment gateway compatibility when integrating a CAU into their tech stack.  

Is a CAU the Right Move for Your Business? 

A CAU can be game-changing for merchants that rely on recurring payments, like SaaS or subscription companies. You could be an especially good candidate for a CAU if: 

  • You’ve experienced high rates of involuntary churn and want to recapture lost revenue in 2025.
  • You want to minimize cash flow disruptions that can result from outdated card details. 
  • Your business has a large number of average payments processed each quarter, and you’re tired of manually updating payment information. 
  • You want to reduce your fraud risk by not keeping customer payment details onsite. 
  • You have customers on long-term payment plans that require their card to be charged each month. 
  • Your company offers high-value subscriptions, where a payment delay could significantly impact your cash flow. 
  • Your business has an infrequent billing cycle, such as quarterly, bi-annual, or annual billing. 

If any of those reminded you of your company, a CAU could help you cut costs and streamline important payment workflows. To learn which account updater service is best suited to your needs, or for help integrating a CAU into your tech stack, contact the MSG Payment Systems team today. 

And for even more info about boosting your revenue in 2025, check out our post on minimizing chargebacks.

Share:

More Posts

Fueling Savings: How Propane Merchants Can Reduce Credit Card Processing Fees

Introduction For propane merchants, every dollar saved has a direct impact on profitability. High credit card processing fees not only reduce margins but also constrain

Same Day Funding: Rapid Cash Access for Merchants

Introduction to Same Day Funding for Merchants Same day funding refers to the ability for merchants to receive the proceeds from their credit card sales

Merchant Onboarding Made Easy: Streamlined Integration for ISVs & Merchants

What is merchant onboarding, and why is it essential for ISVs? Merchant onboarding is the end-to-end process of enrolling a new merchant into a payment

MSG’s New Partner Portal: What You’ll Find Inside

Today more than ever, tracking your financial performance and optimizing payment management are crucial steps for ISVs to take — especially if you’re part of

MSG Payment Systems
10555 New York Ave., Ste. 101,
Urbandale, Iowa 50322


1-888-697-8831


Contact Us

Linkedin Facebook

© 2024 MSG Payment Systems. MSG Payment Systems. All rights reserved. MSG Payment Systems is a registered ISO of Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Cincinnati, OH. All product names, logos, brands, trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. Privacy Policy