Account Updater: Things to consider
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Things to consider
Confirm technical readiness by reviewing tokenization compatibility and understanding bank-level participation rules before you enable.
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Things to consider
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Is Account Updater right for you?
For the majority of Recurly customers, enabling AU is a simple configuration toggle. Recurly's Real-Time Account Updater (RTAU) now covers major networks globally — including AMEX and Discover — on supported gateways.
Key questions to ask before you enable
How are you tokenizing payment data?
Recurly AU works seamlessly with Recurly.js and Recurly-hosted checkouts. If you use external gateway tokenization, Recurly can still run AU as long as the token is managed within the Recurly vault.
Is your gateway already running AU?
Running AU in both Recurly and your gateway can be redundant. However, many merchants choose to run Recurly AU alongside gateway RTAU to ensure coverage across all regions and card networks.
Are you an American Express merchant?
Modern RTAU now handles AMEX globally for many gateways. Legacy "Cardrefresher" is only required for specific direct-AMEX configurations and is generally not needed for new integrations.
Network & issuer limitations
AU is highly effective, but success is subject to card network participation rules. A card may not update due to any of the following:
- Bank participation: Not all global issuing banks participate in the automated update network.
- Card type exclusions: Prepaid cards and certain specialized debit cards are typically ineligible for automated updates.
- Closed accounts: Updates are only available for replacement cards. If a customer closes an account entirely, no new data is generated.
- Visa opt-out: Some Visa issuers allow cardholders to manually opt out of sharing updated details with merchants.
Account Updater requires a Billing Info object to exist in the Recurly vault. It will not run on guest checkouts where card details are not saved for future use.
A note on Adyen users
Recurly supports a dedicated Adyen RTAU integration. For maximum efficiency, we recommend enabling both Adyen RTAU and Recurly AU to ensure comprehensive global coverage across all regions and card networks.
Quick diagnostic
Enable AU in Recurly if…
You have credit/debit cards stored in the Recurly vault and want to proactively ensure they remain valid, regardless of gateway-level services.
RecommendedCheck gateway config if…
You are using a third-party hosted checkout that does not pass card metadata or tokens back to Recurly for storage in the vault.
Gateway focusPre-enablement checklist
Work through these before moving to the next step. Check each item off as you confirm it.
Before you enable
Updated 9 days ago