A payment plan lets Cradled charge a client's card on file automatically — an optional deposit right away, then a recurring amount on the schedule you set. It's built for the classic doula structures ("deposit at booking, then monthly through the birth") without you having to chase each payment.
Before you start
A plan charges a saved card, so two things have to be in place:
- Your Stripe account can accept charges. If you haven't finished Stripe onboarding, connect it first — Cradled will block charges until your account is ready.
- The client has a card on file. You send them a secure link to add one (below). No card, no plan.
Step 1 — Get a card on file
- Open the client and find the Auto-charge panel in their billing section.
- Click Send card-on-file request. Cradled emails the client a secure link (or gives you one to share) where they enter their card through Stripe. Nothing is charged at this step.
- Once they've added a card, the panel shows the card on file and unlocks the plan fields.
Step 2 — Set up the plan
With a card on file, fill in:
- Deposit now (optional) — a one-time amount charged immediately when you create the plan.
- Recurring amount — what's charged each cycle.
- Cadence — Weekly, Every 2 weeks, or Monthly.
- Ends — choose how the plan stops:
- Through week 36 — recurring charges run until roughly 4 weeks before the due date.
- On a date — you pick the end date.
- After N charges — a fixed number of recurring charges.
- Until I stop it — runs until you cancel it.
Create the plan. The deposit (if any) is charged right away.
What happens after
Cradled charges the card automatically on schedule — you don't send anything. Each charge creates an invoice in your list so you have a record:
- The deposit is recorded as the plan's first entry, then each recurring charge as the next.
- A successful charge is marked Paid. A failed one is marked Overdue (see below).
When a charge fails
Cards decline sometimes. Cradled handles it automatically:
- It retries the next day, then again three days later.
- After a third failed attempt, the plan pauses so the client isn't hit repeatedly.
- You get a notification on every failure and when a plan pauses.
To recover a paused plan: click Send new card request so the client can add a working card, then Resume with latest card. Cradled picks up where it left off using their newest card on file.
Refunds
Refund any charge from its invoice like any other payment — refunding one charge doesn't affect the others. See Issue a refund.
What your client sees
Charges happen automatically on the card they saved — there's nothing for them to pay manually each cycle. They get a receipt for each successful charge, and Stripe emails them if a card needs updating.