Payment recovery, failed charges, and renewal grace

What is payment recovery?

Payment recovery occurs when a recurring subscription payment cannot be completed — for example, due to an expired card, insufficient funds, or temporary bank fraud blocks. Jobaria is designed to prevent sudden workflow interruptions for active job seekers through a structured recovery process.

The 3-day established-renewal grace period

If you have an active paid subscription with at least one prior successful payment, Jobaria implements an established-renewal grace period of up to 3 days:

• Uninterrupted Paid Access: You keep your Pro or Ultra tier, current AI allowance, and reset schedule for up to 3 calendar days from the moment the renewal fails.
• Automated Payment Retries: Stripe automatically retries the payment attempt using configured retry rules and sends payment notification emails containing direct links to update your payment method.
• In-App Billing Status: A warning banner appears in your dashboard billing settings indicating that your payment is past due, specifying the exact date and time when grace expires.

How to resolve a failed payment

To restore your account to good standing:

1. Open your Jobaria dashboard and go to Settings → Billing.
2. Click Invoices & Cards to open the secure Stripe Customer Portal.
3. Under Payment Methods, select Add payment method and enter your valid card details.
4. Set the new card as default and confirm payment for any outstanding invoice.

What happens when payment recovers

• Recovery during grace: Once payment succeeds during the 3-day grace window, your paid tier continues seamlessly. Your current allowance window and reset schedule are preserved without interruption (payment recovery does not trigger a separate allowance refill).
• Payment succeeds after fallback to Free: If payment succeeds after the 3-day grace window has expired and your account has returned to Free, your paid tier is reactivated with a fresh destination allowance pool starting immediately.

Expiry of grace and collection stop

If payment cannot be resolved by the end of the 3-day grace deadline:

• The unresolved subscription is formally ended.
• All future automatic recurring collection attempts are stopped (preventing open unpaid charges from silently accumulating).
• Your account safely falls back to the Free tier.
• All your documents, tailored resumes, cover letters, and settings remain safe. Core CV editing and PDF downloads continue without restriction.

Rules for first-time payments, €0 introductions, and upgrades

Grace periods apply exclusively to recurring renewals on established subscriptions:

• Initial purchases: If an initial subscription payment fails or remains incomplete, no paid entitlement or grace is granted. Your account stays on Free until payment succeeds.
• €0 introductory periods: If a €0 promotional first period ends and the first subsequent recurring charge fails, the account immediately transitions to Free when the promotional period ends, with no paid grace.
• Tier upgrades: If an upgrade payment from Pro to Ultra fails, your existing Pro access and allowance remain intact. The higher Ultra tier is not granted until payment succeeds.

Expected result

Your account displays a temporary past-due banner during the 3-day grace window without interrupting your active resume tailoring or coaching sessions. Updating your card via the Stripe Customer Portal immediately clears the warning and continues your subscription.

Troubleshooting

• If your card was declined due to 3D Secure / SCA authentication, follow the link in the notification email or Stripe Customer Portal to complete verification.
• If the 3-day grace period expired and your subscription ended, simply click Upgrade to Pro or Upgrade to Ultra in the dashboard to start a new subscription with fresh allowances.
• Remember that core manual editing and PDF exports remain fully operational even if your account falls back to Free.