Ecommerce OS · Info Products6 min readUpdated November 2, 2026

How to Cut Course Access Automatically When a Payment Fails

How to suspend and restore course or membership access automatically when a payment fails: which events to use, when to cut, what your terms say.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 9 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

Let billing events drive access. Keep access while the card is being retried, suspend it when retries run out or the plan is cancelled, and restore it the moment a payment clears. Revoking access does not stop billing on most platforms, so end the subscription too. Write the rule into the terms the buyer accepts at checkout.

Stripe advises: "When a subscription changes to `canceled` or `unpaid`, revoke access to your product", not on the first failure (read November 2, 2026).
Kajabi warns that "revoking access for a recurring subscription or multi-pay Offer will not deactivate future payments".
With Stripe on Kajabi, failed payers keep access unless the subscription is set to cancel after all retries (September 2026).
No Visa rule we found forbids cutting access; Visa does require your cancellation policy in the agreement the buyer accepts.

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This guide is part of our playbook on the best ecommerce platform for info product businesses. The general guide, for any business: subscriptions and churn.

Which event should trigger what

Access should follow the billing status, never a manual check.

Billing event	Stripe1	Tagada6 7	Access action
Payment succeeds	`invoice.paid`, status `active`	`order/paid`, `subscription/rebillSucceeded`	Grant or extend access
Payment fails, retries running	`invoice.payment_failed`, status `past_due`	`subscription/rebillDeclined`, `subscription/pastDue`	Keep access, send a card update request
Retries exhausted	Status `canceled` or `unpaid` (your setting)	`subscription/canceled` after the last retry	Suspend access
Payment recovered	`invoice.paid`, back to `active`	`subscription/rebillSucceeded`, back to `active`	Restore access automatically
Refund or dispute	`charge.refunded`, `charge.dispute.created`	`order/refunded`	Remove access to what was refunded

Fig. 1One failed payment, four access states

Payment failsStatus past_due, card update request sent
Retries runningKeep access
Retries exhaustedStatus canceled or unpaid: suspend access
Payment recoveredBack to active: restore access automatically

Access stays during retries, goes when they run out.

Sequence from the table above.

Cut now or after retries?

Three policies are common. The middle one fits most courses and memberships.

Policy	How it works	Risk
Cut on first failure	Access goes the moment a charge fails	You lock out students whose card failed for a temporary reason; more support tickets
Suspend after retries	Access stays during retries, goes when they run out	Short window of unpaid access
Never cut automatically	You review each case	Students keep access for months without paying

Fig. 2Three policies and their risk

Cut on first failureAccess goes the moment a charge fails.You lock out students whose card failed for a temporary reason; more support tickets.
Suspend after retriesAccess stays during retries, goes when they run out.Short window of unpaid access.
Never cut automaticallyYou review each case.Students keep access for months without paying.

The middle one fits most courses and memberships.

Policies from the table above.

Stripe treats unpaid this way: "Revoke access to your product when the subscription is unpaid because Stripe already attempted and retried payment while the subscription was past_due"1.

Watch out

On Kajabi, PayPal subscriptions keep access after a failed recurring payment until the subscription is cancelled or you revoke access manually2. Check each payment method, not only cards.

Payment plans and memberships are not the same

	Payment plan (fixed installments)	Membership (renews until cancelled)
What the student paid for	Part of a fixed program	Access for the current period
On a missed installment	Suspend unpaid content; keep what was paid for, if your terms say so	Suspend access to the membership
On recovery	Restore and continue the schedule	Restore and continue billing
Ending	Plan ends after the last installment; access stays	Access ends with the last paid period

Plan design and the rules on charging interest: payment plans for info product businesses.

How to set it up

Native automations first. On Kajabi, add an Offer automation with the trigger "Subscription payment failed" or a cancellation trigger, and the action "Revoke an offer"3.
Stop billing too. On Kajabi, use "deactivate from Offer (discontinue payment & access)" in Advanced Automations3; in Stripe, cancel the subscription or let your retry settings move it to canceled1.
Connect separate tools with webhooks or Zapier. A billing tool sends the event; the course platform runs the action.
Suspend, don't delete. On Memberspot via Zapier, "Revoke" keeps the student's progress, while "Delete access" deletes it4.
Test the full loop: a failed test card, the retries, the suspension, then a successful payment and the restored access.

Suspend and restore from billing events, then test the whole loop once.

Recovering the payment itself (retries, emails, card updates) is covered in failed payment recovery for info product businesses.

Write it in your terms

Visa requires the buyer's express consent to an agreement that includes your cancellation and refund policy before you store a card for installments or renewals5. Put the access rule there, in plain words:

When access is suspended
"If a payment is not received after retries, access to unpaid content is paused."
How to restore it
By updating the card, with a link.
What happens to progress
Kept while access is paused.
What is refunded
If the plan ends early.

Keep the login history even after you suspend access. For a Visa fraud dispute on digital goods, proof the buyer used your site "on or after the Transaction Date" counts as evidence5. More on info product chargebacks.

How Tagada helps

Billing events your course access can follow

"If you sell something real, we will get you paid." TagadaPay lists info products, coaching and online courses among its industries, with "enhanced review for regulated verticals." "Most merchants are live under 24 hours."9

Billing statuses you can act on: active, past_due ("Last rebill failed, retrying automatically"), paused and canceled6.
Webhooks for each step: subscription/rebillDeclined, subscription/pastDue, subscription/rebillSucceeded, subscription/canceled, subscription/rebillUpcoming, payment/failed and order/refunded, plus club/membershipActivated and club/membershipDeactivated for memberships; each event is retried up to 6 times over about 1 hour 15 minutes if your endpoint is down7.
Automatic retries: 5 attempts over 21 days, then cancellation6.
A customer portal where the student updates the card and pays a past-due subscription right away8.
Routing: "Route to the processor most likely to approve it, retry on decline. No engineering required." TagadaPay reports a "+18% approval uplift"9.

Plans are on the pricing page; payment processing is on TagadaPay.

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Billing events your course access can follow

Updated on November 2, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

Should I revoke course access immediately when a payment fails?

Usually not. Many failures are cards that need updating. Keep access while the card is retried and the student is reminded, then suspend it when retries run out. Stripe's own guidance is to revoke access when the subscription becomes `canceled` or `unpaid`.

Does revoking access stop future payments?

Not on its own on many platforms. Kajabi says revoking access for a recurring or multi-pay Offer "will not deactivate future payments". Cancel or deactivate the subscription as well, or the student keeps being charged for content they cannot open.

Will the student lose their progress?

It depends on the action. Memberspot's Zapier integration offers "Revoke", which keeps progress, and "Delete access", which deletes it. Choose a suspension that keeps progress, so a student who pays again picks up where they left off.

Can I legally cut access when a payment plan fails?

No Visa rule we found forbids it. Visa requires your cancellation and refund policy in the agreement the buyer accepts before you store the card. State the access rule there, apply it as written, and refund anything charged for content you will not deliver. Consumer law varies; check with a lawyer.

How do I restore access automatically when they pay?

Listen for the successful payment event and grant access again: `invoice.paid` with an `active` subscription in Stripe, or the return to `active` in your billing tool. Test it with a card that fails, then succeeds.

Sources

Checked November 2, 2026

Tagada

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