Dunning is the broader process of following up on overdue payments. Timed retries decide when to attempt collection again. Saved-card fallback tries another eligible card when an attempt fails. These solve different parts of a billing failure.
Dunning is the recovery conversation
A useful dunning process tells a customer that something went wrong and gives them a way to resolve it. That might mean updating a card, completing authentication, or clarifying an invoice. The message should identify the problem without assuming the customer wanted to cancel.
The operational side matters too: decide who reviews unresolved accounts, when access changes, and how your team records the outcome. Sending emails without checking whether the invoice has since been paid creates a confusing customer experience.
Timed retries answer when to try again
A temporary failure can resolve later, so another attempt at a different time may help. Stripe’s Smart Retries is a timing-based recovery feature. Stripe also documents a payment-method priority order for subscription retries.
Updating the customer default is not always the same as updating the subscription default. Check which payment method your billing configuration actually uses. Read the current Stripe retry documentation before changing a policy.
Card fallback answers which saved card to try
Consider an unpaid subscription invoice for $96. The customer has three saved cards. The first attempt fails. A fallback workflow can move to another eligible card instead of requiring an operator to open the account and repeat the same steps by hand.
Rebound uses a manual-start workflow: choose a date range, review the unpaid invoices, and start recovery. It tries eligible saved cards once each per invoice in that run and stops when payment succeeds. This example describes the workflow, not a promise that the second card will work.
Choose the response that matches the failure
- A temporary funding problem: review the timing and retry policy.
- A different eligible card is already saved: consider a controlled fallback attempt.
- Authentication or a new method is required: involve the customer.
- The result of a charge is unknown: verify the outcome before attempting another payment.
Use the original invoice as the shared reference across these actions. That makes it easier to coordinate tools and distinguish one debt from its many attempts.