How to manage failed payments from members

This article explains what a failed payment is, how Patreon recovers payments and what members can do to help prevent this in the future. If a member needs help with a failed payment, you can send them our Failed payment help troubleshooting guide

What are declined payments, and why do they happen?

A declined payment can happen when a member’s payment is not processed successfully. Common reasons for declined payments include:

• Insufficient funds
• Expired credit card information
• Incorrect payment details
• The issuing bank has blocked the transaction
• Patreon’s authorisation has been revoked (most often with PayPal)
• Card network or issuing bank authorisation issues if it is the first time the payment method is used

How does Patreon handle failed payments?

We automatically retry your members’ failed payments up to six times within the month they decline. If a member has backup payments turned on, we’ll retry their payment with a backup method if their original method fails.

When a member’s payment is declined, Patreon will:

• Retry membership payments
• Email members to let them know their payment has failed and instructions to retry
• Let members know that their payment has failed with an announcement banner on their accounts
• Restrict access to member-only content until past-due bills are collected
• A member with failed payment for ~30 days will be converted to free membership

In a one-time update, members who have been in a failed payment state since Jan 2024 will become free members. In addition, members in a failed payment state between Dec 2025 and Jan 2026 will also be counted as a paid cancelled member. This means you may see a one-time increase in free and paid cancelled members, which will be reflected in both Membership Insights and Relationship Manager.

Note: Members in a failed payment state prior to Jan 2024 will become cancelled members. However, this will only be updated in Relationship Manager, not Membership Insights.

Viewing members with failed payments

Creators can view each member's status using their Relationship Manager and send messages to those whose payments have failed. To view members with failed payments:

1. Visit the Relationship Manager
2. Click on the Payments declined button – this shortcut will show you all members with a failed payment status
3. You can click the Filter button to view a list of members with a failed payment in a specific tier or during a certain time period
4. Click the CSV button to export your data to view on your preferred platform

What can I do to prevent failed payments from members?

• You can encourage your members to turn on backup payments for their accounts. Backup payments help ensure that members don’t lose access to membership benefits due to failed payments
• We automatically email members about updating payment methods when their payments are declined, but personal messages can provide a helpful and effective reminder to members. To reduce declined payments, consider sending a personal note with our failed payment help guide

FAQ

• You can filter your Relationship Manager to view a list of members with a declined payment.

  You can also review your total monthly declined payments by visiting your Earnings dashboard. It’s important to note that if you view this dashboard at the beginning of a month, the current month’s decline rate typically exceeds the rate from prior months. This is normal. The decline rate is typically high in the first few days of the month and falls over time as we retry payments and encourage members to update their payment methods.

• If a member’s payment declines, their access will be revoked until their payment is successfully processed. After ~30 days the member will be converted to a free membership.