# How autopay works on a payment plan

See where to add a saved card or bank account, and understand how autopay turns on automatically after your first installment payment — there's no separate switch to find.

Canonical URL: https://gigpie.com/docs/how-tos/parents/set-up-autopay

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## Overview

Use this guide to understand how autopay works on an installment plan: where to add a card or bank account, and what happens automatically once your first payment goes through.

## Before you start

- You are on a payment plan with one or more installments remaining.
- You have a card or bank account you're ready to save.



## There's no autopay switch to find — and that's by design

If you've gone looking for an "enable autopay" toggle, stop looking — there isn't one. Autopay turns on by itself the moment your first installment on a plan is paid successfully by card. From that point on, future installments on that plan are charged automatically as they come due, on a real schedule that checks for due installments every two hours. You never opt in and you never need to remember to turn it on for a new plan.

## What autopay actually does

Once it's running, autopay charges your saved card or bank account on each installment's due date. If a charge fails — an expired card, insufficient funds — it retries automatically rather than leaving the installment stuck, and retries are idempotent, so you're never at risk of being double-charged for the same installment. If you pay by bank account (ACH) instead of a card, Gigpie gives the transfer its normal clearing time instead of treating it as failed on day one; you may briefly see an installment marked as processing, alongside Stripe's expected clear date, while the transfer clears.

## Steps


### Step 1: Sign in as a parent

Use your parent account credentials to access the family dashboard.

![Family Dashboard after signing in as a parent](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/parents/set-up-autopay/01-sign-in-as-a-parent.png)



### Step 2: Open Payment Methods

Click Payment Methods under Billing in the sidebar. This is where every card or bank account you save for purchases and autopay lives.

![Payment Methods page with no saved payment methods yet, an Add payment method button, and a note that ACH payments can take 5-7 business days to clear](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/parents/set-up-autopay/02-open-payment-methods.png)



### Step 3: Add a card or bank account

Click "Add payment method" to open Stripe's secure form and save a card or bank account. This is the only step that matters for autopay — saving a payment method here is the prerequisite; autopay itself needs no further setup from you.

![Add payment method button on the Payment Methods page](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/parents/set-up-autopay/03-hover-add-payment-method.png)



### Step 4: See what autopay will do for your plan

Open Purchases to see your payment plans. Once autopay is running on a plan, installments show as Paid automatically around their due dates instead of you having to remember to pay them one by one.

![Purchases & Payment Plans page scrolled to the Payment Plans section, showing installment schedules with Paid status badges, with the Receipts list visible above](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/parents/set-up-autopay/04-see-your-payment-plans.png)





## What you'll accomplish

- You know where to add or manage saved payment methods.
- You understand that autopay turns on automatically after your first successful card payment — it isn't a switch you flip yourself.
- You know what to expect from ACH clearing times and retrying failed charges.



## Related Guides

- [How to view and pay your payment plans](/docs/how-tos/parents/manage-payment-plans) - The installment schedule autopay works against
- [How to purchase coaching hours](/docs/how-tos/parents/purchasing-a-package) - Where a payment plan starts
- [Billing & Payments](/features/billing-payments) - How installments, autopay, and pay-by-bank work end to end