Saved payment accounts (commonly referred to as saved payment methods or cards on file) let your residents securely store their card or bank information for faster checkout and recurring payments. This article explains how saved payment accounts work, how they’re managed, and what to know about security and control with CivicPlus Payments.
What are Saved Payment Accounts?
Saved payment accounts are securely tokenized versions of a resident’s credit/debit card or bank account. They can be reused for:
Faster checkout (auto-filled info)
Recurring or scheduled payments
One-click payments in portals or by staff
The actual payment data is never stored by your team or our platform. It’s handled by our PCI-compliant processor.
How Payment Accounts Are Saved
There are typically three ways a payment account can be saved:
Method | Who Can Do It | Where it Happens |
|---|---|---|
During Checkout | Resident | At the time of payment using the portal or embedded form |
In the Resident Portal | Resident | Under Account / Payment Settings |
Through Staff Entry | Staff | In the Admin / Staff Portal |
Residents must opt in to save a payment account. Nothing is saved automatically without consent.
Security & Compliance
All saved payment accounts are tokenized and stored by our processor
Our system is PCI DSS compliant
Neither your team nor our software ever stores full card or account details
Residents can view, update, or remove their saved accounts at any time
When Saved Payment Accounts Are Used
When making future on-time payments
When enrolling in recurring billing
When processing scheduled staff-initiated charges
When using auto-payment features (“pay balance on due date”)
Updating or Deleting Saved Payment Accounts
Residents can update their payment accounts by:
Logging into their portal and editing their profile or billing settings
Replacing a card during their next payment checkout
Contacting your team if staff-side changes are permitted
Removing a saved payment account may cancel or pause recurring payments linked to it.
Additional Resources
If you’re using an external processor, please see the below articles for more information.