What is MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater and How Does it Work? MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater: Making billing easier for businesses and paying easier for customers Recurring billing solutions and payments have become increasingly popular for both businesses and customers, providing an easy way to pay for frequently used products and services and giving businesses the security of continuous revenue coming through. However, one of the downfalls of recurring payments, for both the merchant and the customer, is having to deal with credit card account changes which inevitably lead to declined authorization and a possible disruption in service. To help mitigate these issues, MasterCard has created the MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater program to help with eCommerce recurring billing. MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU) is a solution created by MasterCard to provide merchants with the updated credit card account information of their customers who use a MasterCard credit or debit card. When changes are made to an account, the MasterCard issuer who issued the card sends MasterCard the changes, which are then stored in the ABU database. Requiring MasterCard issuers to send updated account information helps MasterCard give the correct information to merchants who are registered for the program. How MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater Works In order to use the MasterCard ABU service, you must first register as a merchant. After you have been enrolled in the program, you can submit account queries through your acquiring bank. It is wise to do this a few days before you are scheduled to charge a customer’s account. Your acquirer will then submit your queries which will be checked against the MasterCard ABU. After the account information has been checked, MasterCard will send the acquirer any information that has been updated for each account. Next, your acquiring bank will provide you with the updated information on any accounts you inquired about, and you can then use that information to update your customers’ billing information. Benefits of MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater The MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater benefits MasterCard, card issuers, acquiring banks, and most importantly, you, the merchant, and your customers. Using ABU provides you with the most up-to-date customer card information which means fewer authorization declines. To that same effect, it also saves resources since your customer service team won’t have to call or email the customer to ask for an alternate payment method or the revised account information. ABU also leads to increased customer satisfaction because it prevents service disruptions and possible late charges. It also makes life easier for the customer. Once they enter card information, they don’t have to worry about having to ever update it in your system again. Clarity Can Help For nearly a decade, Clarity has been implementing solutions to help business’s improve their processes and increase their revenue. Our team of experts has helped many companies better charge and collect for installments, subscription-based services, or membership dues through recurring billing systems. To find out more about MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater or to speak with an expert about implementing a recurring billing system, call or click to contact us today!