Sign in
Create account
Sign in
Support

Update payment details

Learn how to update the payment method used for future invoices.

Use the following steps to create a Checkout page that collects your customer’s payment details and returns a Payment Method. Then use the Stripe REST APIs to update the payment method used for future invoices.

This guide uses Checkout to update subscription payment methods. You can instead implement the Billing customer portal to provide a Stripe-hosted dashboard for your customers to manage their subscriptions and billing details.

Set up Stripe
Server-side

First, you need a Stripe account. Register now.

Use our official libraries for access to the Stripe API from your application:

Terminal
# Available as a gem
sudo gem install stripe
Gemfile
# If you use bundler, you can add this line to your Gemfile
gem 'stripe'

Create a Checkout Session
Server-side

To create a setup mode Session, use the mode parameter with a value of setup when creating the Session. See the Checkout Session API reference for a complete list of parameters that you can use for Session creation.

Append the {CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID} template variable to the success_url to get access to the Session ID after your customer successfully completes a Checkout Session.

Finally, use the setup_intent_data.metadata dictionary to pass your customer’s existing Stripe subscription_id to the Checkout Session. Note that there other ways to pass this data to your server, but we’ll use metadata for this guide.

Terminal
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/checkout/sessions \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "payment_method_types[]"="card" \
  -d "mode"="setup" \
  -d "customer"="cus_FOsk5sbh3ZQpAU" \
  -d "setup_intent_data[metadata][subscription_id]"="sub_8epEF0PuRhmltU" \
  -d "success_url"="https://example.com/success?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}" \
  -d "cancel_url"="https://example.com/cancel"

Redirect to Checkout
Client-side

Checkout relies on Stripe.js, Stripe’s foundational JavaScript library for building payment flows.

To get started, include the following script tag on your website—always load it directly from https://js.stripe.com. You can’t include it in a bundle or host it yourself. See Stripe samples for examples.

<script src="https://js.stripe.com/v3/"></script>

Next, create an instance of the Stripe object by providing your publishable API key as the first parameter:

var stripe = Stripe(
'pk_test_TYooMQauvdEDq54NiTphI7jx'
);

To use Checkout on your website, you must add a snippet of code that includes the Session id from the previous step. When your customer is ready to save or update their payment method, call redirectToCheckout and provide the Session id as a parameter.

var checkoutButton = document.getElementById('checkout-button');

checkoutButton.addEventListener('click', function() {
  stripe.redirectToCheckout({
    // Make the id field from the Checkout Session creation API response
    // available to this file, so you can provide it as argument here
    // instead of the {{CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}} placeholder.
    sessionId: '{{CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}}'
  }).then(function (result) {
    // If `redirectToCheckout` fails due to a browser or network
    // error, display the localized error message to your customer
    // using `result.error.message`.
  });
});

This code is typically invoked from an event handler that triggers in response to an action taken by your customer, such as clicking on a payment button.

Retrieve the Checkout Session
Server-side

After a customer successfully completes their Checkout Session, you need to retrieve the Session object. There are two ways to do this:

  • Asynchronously: Handle checkout.session.completed webhooks, which contain a Session object. Learn more about setting up webhooks.
  • Synchronously: Obtain the sessionId from the URL when a user redirects back to your site (appended to the success_url) and retrieve the Session object.
Terminal
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/checkout/sessions/cs_test_MlZAaTXUMHjWZ7DcXjusJnDU4MxPalbtL5eYrmS2GKxqscDtpJq8QM0k \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:

The right choice depends on your tolerance for dropoff, as customers may not always reach the success_url after a successful payment. It’s possible for them close their browser tab before the redirect occurs. Handling webhooks prevents your integration from being susceptible to this form of dropoff.

After you have retrieved the Session object, get the value of the setup_intent key, which is the ID for the SetupIntent created during the Checkout Session. A SetupIntent is an object used to set up the customer’s bank account information for future payments.

Example checkout.session.completed payload:

{
  "id": "evt_1Ep24XHssDVaQm2PpwS19Yt0",
  "object": "event",
  "api_version": "2019-03-14",
  "created": 1561420781,
  "data": {
    "object": {
      "id": "cs_test_MlZAaTXUMHjWZ7DcXjusJnDU4MxPalbtL5eYrmS2GKxqscDtpJq8QM0k",
      "object": "checkout.session",
      "billing_address_collection": null,
      "cancel_url": "https://example.com/cancel",
      "client_reference_id": null,
      "customer": "cus_FOsk5sbh3ZQpAU",
      "customer_email": null,
      "display_items": [],
      "mode": "setup",
      "setup_intent": "seti_1EzVO3HssDVaQm2PJjXHmLlM",
      "submit_type": null,
      "subscription": null,
      "success_url": "https://example.com/success"
    }
  },
  "livemode": false,
  "pending_webhooks": 1,
  "request": {
    "id": null,
    "idempotency_key": null
  },
  "type": "checkout.session.completed"
}

Note the setup_intent ID for the next step.

Retrieve the SetupIntent
Server-side

Using the setup_intent ID, retrieve the SetupIntent object using the /v1/setup_intents/:id endpoint.

Terminal
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/setup_intents/seti_1EzVO3HssDVaQm2PJjXHmLlM \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:

Example response:

{
  "id": "seti_1EzVO3HssDVaQm2PJjXHmLlM",
  "object": "setup_intent",
  "application": null,
  "cancellation_reason": null,
  "client_secret": null,
  "created": 1561420781,
  "customer": "cus_FOsk5sbh3ZQpAU",
  "description": null,
  "last_setup_error": null,
  "livemode": false,
  "metadata": {
    "subscription_id": "sub_8epEF0PuRhmltU"
  },
  "next_action": null,
  "on_behalf_of": null,
  "payment_method": "pm_1F0c9v2eZvKYlo2CJDeTrB4n",
  "payment_method_types": [
    "card"
  ],
  "status": "succeeded",
  "usage": "off_session"
}

Note the customer ID, subscription_id, and payment_method ID for the next steps.

If you’re requesting this information synchronously from the Stripe API (as opposed to handling webhooks), you can combine the previous step with this step by expanding the SetupIntent object in the request to the /v1/checkout/session endpoint. Doing this prevents you from having to make two network requests to access the newly created PaymentMethod ID.

Set a default payment method
Server-side

There are two ways to ensure that a payment method is used for future invoices:

  • Set it as the Customer’s invoice_settings.default_payment_method
  • Set it as the Subscription’s default_payment_method

Setting invoice_settings.default_payment_method on the Customer will cause all future invoices for that customer to be paid with the specified payment method.

Setting default_payment_method on the Subscription will cause all future invoices for that subscription to be paid with the specified payment method, overriding any invoice_settings.default_payment_method set on the associated Customer.

Set invoice_settings.default_payment_method on the Customer

Using the customer ID and the PaymentMethod ID you retrieved, set the invoice_settings.default_payment_method for the Customer using the /v1/customers/:id endpoint.

Terminal
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers/cus_FOsk5sbh3ZQpAU \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "invoice_settings[default_payment_method]"="pm_1F0c9v2eZvKYlo2CJDeTrB4n"

All future invoices for this customer will now charge the new PaymentMethod created with the setup mode Checkout Session.

Set default_payment_method on the Subscription

Using the subscription ID and the PaymentMethod ID you retrieved, set the default_payment_method for the subscription using the /v1/subscriptions/:id endpoint.

Terminal
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/subscriptions/sub_8epEF0PuRhmltU \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -X "POST" \
  -d "default_payment_method"="pm_1F0c9v2eZvKYlo2CJDeTrB4n"

All future invoices for this subscription will now charge the new PaymentMethod created with the setup mode Checkout Session, overriding any invoice_settings.default_payment_method set on the associated Customer.

See also

Congrats! You can now set a default payment method for future invoices. When testing your integration with your test API key, you can use a test card number to ensure that it works correctly.

Was this page helpful?
Questions? Contact us.
Developer tutorials on YouTube.
On this page
Set up Stripe
Create a Checkout Session
Redirect to Checkout
Retrieve the Checkout Session
Retrieve the SetupIntent
Set a default payment method
See also