DOCS

Stripe billing errors

Diagnose and resolve payment failures, declined cards, and subscription issues.

Card was declined

Stripe returns a decline code that HOWLOPS surfaces in the billing UI. Common decline reasons:

Decline reason	What to do
`insufficient_funds`	Use a different card or top up the account.
`card_declined`	Contact your card issuer. They may have blocked the transaction.
`expired_card`	Update the card via Settings > Billing > Manage billing > update payment method.
`incorrect_cvc`	Re-enter your card with the correct CVV / CVC code.
`do_not_honor`	Card issuer refused the charge. Contact your bank.
`fraudulent`	Stripe's fraud detection flagged the card. Try a different card or contact Stripe support.

Subscription is in "past due" state

If a renewal payment fails, Stripe retries the charge automatically (typically 3–4 times over 7–14 days depending on your card issuer's Smart Retries). During this period:

Your workspace continues to function at the current tier.
You receive email reminders to update your payment method.
If all retries fail, your subscription is cancelled and the workspace downgrades to Free.

To resolve: go to Settings > Billing > Manage billing > update your payment method. The outstanding invoice retries immediately.

Invoice shows unexpected amount

Invoices for mid-cycle upgrades include proration. The prorated amount is calculated as:

(days remaining in billing period / total days in period) x (new tier price - old tier price)

This is shown at checkout before confirming an upgrade.

VAT / tax ID not applied to invoice

Tax IDs must be entered before the invoice is generated. To add or update:

Go to Settings > Billing > Tax information.
Enter your country and tax ID type (VAT, GST, etc.).
The next invoice reflects the tax ID. Past invoices cannot be retroactively updated through the UI — contact support for corrections.

Cannot access Stripe billing portal

The Stripe billing portal is accessible from Settings > Billing > Manage billing. If the button fails:

Verify you are logged in as the workspace Owner (only the Owner can access billing).
Try in a different browser or clear cookies.
If the error persists, the portal session link may have expired. Reload the billing page to generate a fresh link.

Subscription cancelled unexpectedly

Possible causes:

All payment retry attempts failed. Check your email for retry failure notices.
You or another Owner clicked Cancel subscription.
A chargeback was filed with your bank, which triggers automatic subscription cancellation per Stripe policy.

To restore a cancelled subscription, start a new checkout from Settings > Billing > Upgrade.