Payment Methods On File
Every way to get a card or bank account saved for a customer — at quote acceptance, at agreement signing, in the office, in the field, or by sending the client portal link — plus autopay, expiring cards, ACH vs. card, and who on your team should be touching card details.
Written By Support Team
Last updated 42 minutes ago
A payment method on file is what turns Rotor from a scheduling tool into a business that collects itself. With a card saved, monthly billing works, recurring plan jobs bill without a phone call, and your office stops chasing people for $89. Without one, every invoice is a follow-up task.
Some things simply require it. Monthly billing and start-of-month billing on a service plan can't run unless a card is on file, because Rotor is prepaying future jobs on the customer's behalf. See Service Plans.
All of this depends on Stripe being connected. One thing to know up front: if you're switching from other software, saved cards cannot be transferred from your old Stripe account to your Rotor one — that's an industry-wide security restriction. Budget time to re-collect payment methods from your existing book of business.
Five ways to get a payment method saved
Pick the one that matches where the conversation is happening.
1. At quote acceptance
When you build a quote, you can require a card on file as part of the approval flow. In the mobile quote builder this is a toggle alongside the agreement signing option; the customer enters the card when they approve. This is the highest-conversion moment you will get — the customer has just said yes. See Quotes: Web. [VERIFY: is the "require card on file" option available on web quotes as well as mobile, and where does it live in Advanced Settings?]
2. At agreement signing
If the customer is signing a service plan agreement — in person on a tablet at the door, or from a link you texted — that is the natural place to capture billing details, especially on a monthly-billed plan. [VERIFY: does the agreement signing flow itself collect a payment method, or does the rep have to add the card separately after signing?] See Agreements.
3. In the office, over the phone
Open the customer's profile.
Go to the Payments tab.
Under Card on File, add the customer's credit card or bank account details.
Use this when a customer calls in with their card. Enter it while they're on the phone and never write it down.
4. In the field, from mobile
Techs and reps standing at a door often need to capture a card on the spot — after an upsell, or when signing a new quarterly pest plan. [VERIFY: can a payment method be added directly from the customer profile or visit screen in the Rotor mobile app, and can a Member-role user do it? If not, what is the recommended field workflow — send the portal link from the phone?]
5. By sending the client portal link
The cleanest option, and the one to default to when you aren't face to face.
Open the customer's profile and go to the Payments tab.
Click Client Portal Link.
Send the secure link to the customer by text or email.
The customer enters their own card or bank details on a secure page carrying your logo and brand colors, which are pulled from Settings → Business Settings.
Nobody on your team ever sees or handles the number. For what else the customer can do once they're in there, see What your customers see: the client portal.
Card vs. bank account (ACH)
Rotor supports both credit cards and linked bank accounts. The difference that matters to your margin is the processing fee.
Rates are subject to change and there are exceptions — see Payout schedule and processing fees for the full picture. On large recurring commercial accounts the difference is real money over a year, so ask those clients for bank details specifically.
Bank payments settle more slowly than cards and can fail after the fact. [VERIFY: how is a bank account verified in Rotor — instant login through Stripe, or micro-deposits over a couple of days? And how long after collection does an ACH payment settle?]
Autopay and recurring charges
Once a method is saved, it bills the customer's plan according to the billing mode set on the service plan: standard billing invoices after each completed job, monthly billing prepays future jobs month by month on a day you choose, and start of month billing prepays in full on the 1st of the service month.
[VERIFY: is there a separate autopay toggle on the customer or invoice, or is autopay entirely determined by the service plan's billing mode? Specifically — with standard billing and a card on file, does Rotor charge the card automatically when the job completes, or does the office have to run the charge?]
Whatever the answer, tell the customer clearly when their card will be charged and for how much. It is the cheapest chargeback prevention there is.
Updating an expiring or dead card
Cards expire, get reissued after fraud, and get closed. On a quarterly plan you may not find out for three months.
Watch Financials → Payments with the Failed filter. A decline is usually your first signal. See Failed payments and recovery.
To replace a card, send the client portal link again — the customer adds the new method themselves and you never touch the number.
You can also update it from the customer's Payments tab if they're on the phone with you.
After updating, retry the failed charge rather than waiting for the next cycle.
[VERIFY: does Rotor or Stripe automatically update reissued card numbers through the card networks' account updater service, and does Rotor warn you before a saved card's expiration date passes?]
A good habit: before your busy season starts, confirm every active recurring customer has a working method on file.
Who should be able to see and enter card details
Card data is the most sensitive thing in your account. Two rules keep you out of trouble.
Rule one: Rotor and Stripe store the card, not your team. Nobody should be writing card numbers on a job sheet, saving them in a notes field, texting them to the office, or keeping them in a spreadsheet "just in case" — a number written down anywhere is a liability Stripe's security model exists to eliminate. Under Stripe's PCI model, full card numbers are not handed back to the software that stored them — you work from the brand and last four digits, which is all anyone needs to confirm which card is on file. [VERIFY: exactly what does Rotor display for a saved card — brand and last four only?]
Rule two: match access to the role. Roles today are Owner, Admin, and Member. Admins have full visibility into all customers and all settings; Members can see company customers but only get full details for customers they personally signed up. See Team and Roles and permissions reference.
[VERIFY: can a Member-role user open the Payments tab on a customer they signed up and add or view a saved payment method? Can they send the client portal link?]
Regardless of how those permissions land:
Train field reps to send the portal link instead of collecting numbers. It's faster on a doorstep and keeps the rep out of the chain of custody entirely.
Keep manual card entry to the office staff who take phone payments.
Never accept a card number over text or email. Reply with the portal link instead.
If a customer emails you a card number anyway, use it once through the portal or the Payments tab, then delete the message.
Congratulations! You can now get a payment method saved for any customer through whichever channel fits the moment, keep it current, and do it without anyone on your team ever handling a raw card number.
Have additional questions? Our team is ready to help you succeed. Contact us through the chat or drop us an email at support@getrotor.com.
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