Recurring Payments & Auto-Debit

Auto-debit is a financial arrangement where a customer authorizes a merchant to automatically deduct money from their saved card. This covers subscriptions, installments, recurring billing, and event-based charges — all processed without the customer needing to be present after the initial setup.

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When to Use

• Subscriptions — monthly or annual recurring charges for SaaS, memberships, or content
• Installment payments — split a single purchase into multiple scheduled charges
• On-demand billing — charge customers when events occur (e.g., account top-ups, usage-based billing)
• Recurring invoices — automatically collect payment on invoice due dates

Setup

Before implementing auto-debit, ensure you have:

• A Payment Gateway with auto-debit capability enabled
• The Checkout API for creating payment sessions
• Tokenization set up — cards must be tokenized before they can be auto-debited
• A webhook endpoint configured to receive payment notifications
• Familiarity with the User Cards API for card management

Guide

Key Concepts

Auto-debit payments involve two types of transactions:

• CIT (Cardholder Initiated Transaction) — The first payment where the customer is present, enters their card details, and authorizes future charges. This establishes the agreement and saves the card token.
• MIT (Merchant Initiated Transaction) — Subsequent automatic charges triggered by the merchant using the saved token. The customer is not present during these transactions.

Agreement

An agreement is a commercial contract between you and your customer that authorizes you to store and use their payment details for subsequent transactions. Each agreement has:

• A unique id that you define
• A type (recurring, unscheduled, or installment)
• Scheduling parameters (frequency, cycle_interval_days, total_cycles, expiry_date)
• Amount rules (amount_variability: fixed or variable)

warning

Only one card can be linked to an agreement at any time. To change the card, a new CIT (customer-present) transaction is required.

Agreement Types

Type	Use Case	Required Fields
Recurring	Subscriptions, regular billing	id, frequency, amount_variability, expiry_date, cycle_interval_days, total_cycles
Unscheduled	On-demand charges (e.g., account top-ups)	id, frequency
Installment	Split payments for a single purchase	id, frequency, amount_variability, expiry_date, cycle_interval_days, total_cycles, seller

Workflow

1. CIT — Merchant creates a session with payment_type: auto_debit and an agreement object.
2. Payment — Customer enters their card via the Checkout SDK or hosted page and completes 3DS authentication.
3. Webhook — Ottu delivers the token. Save token.token and token.pg_code for future charges.
4. MIT — Merchant charges the token by creating a new session, then calling the Auto-Debit API (or using One-Step Checkout).
5. Result — Webhook confirms the charge. No customer interaction needed.

Live Demo

Experience the complete recurring payment lifecycle. Save a test card, watch the webhook deliver the token in real time, then charge the card automatically — choose between Two-Step or One-Step checkout.

Test Card

Use card number 5123 4500 0000 0008 with expiry 01/39 and CVV 100.

Try Recurring Payments

Experience the full CIT/MIT flow: save a card with a test payment, then charge it automatically — all in sandbox mode.

Step-by-Step

First Payment (CIT)

Step 0: Discover Payment Methods

Before creating a session, call the Payment Methods API with auto_debit: true to discover which gateways support tokenization and auto-debit:

POST /b/pbl/v2/payment-methods/ — Discover Auto-Debit Gateways

{
  "plugin": "payment_request",
  "operation": "purchase",
  "currencies": ["KWD"],
  "auto_debit": true
}

Use the returned pg_codes in the next step.

Step 1: Create Payment Session

Create a session with payment_type: auto_debit and the agreement object. Use a unique customer_id per customer — all future MIT charges and saved cards are associated with this ID.

POST /b/checkout/v1/pymt-txn/ — Create CIT Session

{
  "type": "e_commerce",
  "amount": "200.00",
  "payment_type": "auto_debit",
  "currency_code": "KWD",
  "pg_codes": ["credit-card"],
  "customer_id": "cust_123",
  "webhook_url": "https://yourwebsite.com/webhook",
  "agreement": {
    "id": "A123456789",
    "type": "recurring",
    "amount_variability": "fixed",
    "start_date": "01/04/2026",
    "expiry_date": "01/04/2027",
    "cycle_interval_days": 30,
    "total_cycles": 12,
    "frequency": "monthly",
    "seller": {
      "name": "Your-Business-Name",
      "short_name": "YBN",
      "category_code": "1234"
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Collect Card Details

Collect the customer's card using one of these options:

• Checkout SDK (recommended) — initialize with the session_id
• Redirect to checkout_url — sends the customer to Ottu's hosted checkout page
• Redirect to payment_methods.redirect_url — sends the customer directly to a specific gateway's card entry page

Step 3: Receive Webhook with Token

After the customer completes the payment, Ottu sends a webhook notification with the token:

Webhook Payload — Token Received

{
  "session_id": "4a462681df6aab64e27cedc9bbf733cd6442578b",
  "result": "success",
  "state": "paid",
  "payment_type": "auto_debit",
  "customer_id": "cust_123",
  "agreement": {
    "id": "A123456789",
    "type": "recurring"
  },
  "token": {
    "token": "9923965822244314",
    "customer_id": "cust_123",
    "brand": "VISA",
    "number": "**** 1019",
    "pg_code": "credit-card",
    "agreements": ["A123456789"]
  }
}

Save the token.token and token.pg_code — you'll need them for subsequent charges.

Subsequent Payments (MIT)

Once you have the token, you can charge the customer automatically using either of the following approaches.

Two-Step (Checkout API + Auto-Debit API):

1. Create a new session via the Checkout API with the same pg_code, agreement.id, and customer_id
2. Call the Auto-Debit API with the session_id and token:

POST /b/pbl/v2/auto-debit/ — Charge Saved Card

{
  "session_id": "19aa7cd3cfc43d9d7641f6c433767b25cbcd6c18",
  "token": "9923965822244314"
}

info

Use the same pg_code, agreement.id, and customer_id as the first payment. The amount may vary if the agreement's amount_variability is set to "variable".

One-Step (Checkout API with payment_instrument):

Combine session creation and payment in a single call using payment_instrument. To see this in action, try the Live Demo above.

POST /b/checkout/v1/pymt-txn/ — One-Step Checkout

{
  "type": "e_commerce",
  "amount": "19.000",
  "payment_type": "auto_debit",
  "currency_code": "KWD",
  "pg_codes": ["credit-card"],
  "customer_id": "cust_123",
  "webhook_url": "https://yourwebsite.com/webhook",
  "agreement": { "id": "A123456789", "type": "recurring" },
  "payment_instrument": {
    "instrument_type": "token",
    "payload": { "token": "9923965822244314" }
  }
}

Use Cases

Updating Card Information

Card changes for auto-debit always require a CIT (the customer must be present):

Customer-Initiated Update:

1. Customer visits your card management section
2. Your backend creates a new Checkout session with the same agreement.id
3. Present the Checkout SDK or redirect to checkout_url
4. Customer selects or enters a new card
5. After successful payment, the new card is associated with the agreement
6. You receive the updated token via webhook

Merchant-Requested Update:

When a card is about to expire or a payment fails, notify the customer via email/SMS with a direct link to a checkout page where they can enter a new card.

tip

Set up notifications for upcoming card expirations to avoid disruptions. Prompt customers to update their card details before expiry.

Error Handling

When an MIT payment fails:

1. Notify the customer — send an email/SMS explaining the failure reason
2. Provide a payment link — include a checkout_url so the customer can pay manually
3. Retry after 24 hours — create a new session with appropriate grace period parameters
4. Allow card update — the customer may need to update their saved card

Common failure reasons:

• Insufficient funds — retry after a delay
• Expired card — request card update from customer
• Gateway decline — check with payment gateway for details
• Token invalidated — requires new CIT to re-establish

Pre-Charge Notifications

For recurring billing, notify customers before each charge:

• 1 week before — upcoming charge notification
• 1 day before — final reminder with option to modify
• Include a link to update card or cancel subscription

API Reference

Native Payment API(Auto Debit)

Native Payment API(Auto Debit)

POST 
/b/pbl/v2/auto-debit/

This endpoint will take a session id and check for it's related payment if it's possible to be auto charged or not.
if possible it will charge the payment and return the operation response.
📝 NOTE Optional fields may not be represented in response body.

Permissions

Auth Method	Required Permissions
API Key	All permissions (admin access)
Basic Auth	Can add payment requests or Can add e-commerce payments

Request

Responses

200

400

401

Last updated on Mar 25, 2026

Best Practices

• Track schedules — maintain a scheduling system for recurring payment dates
• Keep records — store detailed transaction records for reconciliation and dispute handling
• Communicate — send clear pre-charge and post-charge notifications to customers
• Include links — always provide direct checkout links in notifications for easy card updates
• Handle failures gracefully — implement retry logic with increasing intervals
• Monitor token health — track card expirations and proactively request updates

FAQ

What's Next?

• Operations — Refund, capture, or void auto-debit transactions
• Webhooks — Handle payment notifications for recurring charges
• User Cards — Manage saved cards and retrieve tokens
• One-Step Checkout — Combine session creation and payment in a single call