Recurring Credit Plans
Credit Plans allow you to schedule recurring credit grants aligned to the customer’s subscription billing cycle. Grants from a Credit Plan can either be paid upfront in a single payment, or split into several payments over a number of billing cycles. If split payments are used, the first payment will be made at the time of the grant.
With a Credit Plan, you can set up several types of recurring or one-time grants:
- A one-time grant of 1000 credits at a cost of $500, fully paid upfront.
- A one-time grant of 1000 credits at a cost of $1000. Payment is split into 5 payments of $200 each, with 2 billing cycles between each payment.
- A recurring grant of 1000 credits every 4 billing cycles at a cost of $1000 each. Each grant is fully paid at the time of granting.
- A recurring grant of 1000 credits every 12 billing cycles at a cost of $2000 each. Payment for each grant is split into 4 payments of $500 each, with 3 billing cycles between each payment.
Credit Plans can be applied when creating a subscription. Simply click the Add Credit Plan button when creating a subscription:
If you choose to create a credit plan that has recurring grants with split payments, the payment frequency must be a factor of the grant frequency. In other words, if credits are granted every 12 billing cycles, payments must be every 1,2,3,4, or 6 billing cycles. If creating a Credit Plan via the UI, the payment amount will be auto-computed from the cost * payment_frequency/grant_frequency. If creating a Credit Plan via the API, you can provide either payment_frequency or payment_amount, and the other value will be auto-computed using the same formula.
If a customer has a Credit Plan on their subscription, has a credit plan grant that is not fully paid off, and then cancels their subscription, we will collect additional payment if the grant has been drawn down more than it has been paid.
For example, say the customer has a monthly billing cycle period and has a Credit Plan that granted 1000 credits on January 1st at a price of $1000, with payment split into 4 payments of $250 and 2 months between payments. The current date is February 10th, and so far $250 has been paid toward the grant. Now, say the customer cancels their subscription:
- If the grant has been drawn down more than $250, we will charge the customer the difference as an overage amount.
- If the grant has been drawn down less than or equal to $250, no additional charge will be made.