Keep card-on-file credentials current using Visa Account Updater (VAU) and Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU)

Steps

1. Enroll your merchant account in VAU through your acquirer and in Mastercard ABU through your Mastercard-certified processor; each network has its own enrollment process and file format requirements.
2. Submit a batch inquiry file containing the stored PANs and expiry dates you want to check — format differs per network but generally requires the PAN, current expiry, and a merchant reference.
3. Parse the response file: update records may include a new PAN, new expiry, a closure indicator (account closed), or a contact cardholder indicator; apply each update type to your vault accordingly.
4. For real-time updates, configure your processor to request VAU/ABU checks at authorization time — some processors support inline updater calls that return updated card data in the authorization response when the stored credential fails.
5. After receiving updated card data, re-attempt declined recurring charges using the new PAN or expiry within the window allowed by your processor's retry policies.
6. Purge or flag records that return a closure or contact cardholder response to avoid continued retry attempts on permanently closed accounts.