Product 03 · Prevention
Expiring-Card Watchdog
The cheapest failed payment is the one that never happens. Once a day it finds Stripe cards about to lapse and nudges customers before the charge can fail.
What it does
- Runs daily on a schedule, or on demand from a webhook.
- Lists your active subscriptions and flags cards expiring within about 45 days (you choose the window).
- Emails each customer a friendly 'your card expires soon' note with a fresh Stripe portal link, no login needed.
- Remembers who it already told, so nobody is emailed twice for the same card.
- Reports every nudge through the same notifications as the recovery workflows.
- Pairs with Stripe's free Card Account Updater, which refreshes reissued cards silently; the watchdog catches the rest.
What it needs
- A Stripe account.
- Free automation software such as n8n on any machine with an internet connection.
- An SMTP sender for the emails.
- The same 15 minutes.
Security
Reads only the last four digits and expiry that Stripe already shows you. Never a full card number. Same credential and sanitisation rules as the recovery workflow.
What it does not do, on purpose
- No SMS.
- Stripe only for now. PayPal does not expose card expiry to merchants.
Part of the bundle
Every purchase includes all three workflows: Stripe recovery, PayPal recovery, and the expiring-card watchdog, plus the setup guide, the email templates, free updates, and a human on email within 12 hours. Full terms and the 14-day guarantee are on the terms page.