A Little Known Secret

It’s Payment Processing month in the RE Community and what better time to let you in on what may be, for some, a little known secret. This secret can save you time. It can also help you minimize disruptions in monthly giving. So what is it, you ask? Credit Card Updater.

Credit Card Updater updates payment information—Visa®, MasterCard®, and Discover® card numbers and expiration dates—for your sustaining donors. By subscribing to the service, you can:
 

• Reduce the number of declined transactions
• Lessen the time spent on constituent outreach
• Prevent donors from cancelling their recurring gifts
• Maintain only current credit card information

Credit Card Updater is available to U.S. clients using Blackbaud Merchant Services in Raiser’s Edge (Version 7.95 Patch 2 or higher) and to U.S. and Canadian clients using Blackbaud Merchant Services in Luminate Online.

How It Works

Once you subscribe, simply visit the Data Health Center in Raiser's Edge and click Update Credit Cards.

The Credit Card Updater screen appears and you can then select whether to create a control report of the results or add attributes to updated records (both of which we recommend).



Once you click the Update Credit Cards button, any:
 

• Cards that have been registered previously by Credit Card Updater are updated with new card information (when available), such as a new expiration date.
• New cards added to your database since the last Credit Card Updater run are registered so they can be checked for updates the following month when you run Credit Card Updater again.
• Credit cards that should not be used anymore, such as cards associated with completed pledges, are de-registered so that they are not sent for updates again.

Each month, the service returns new payment information (when available) and updates credit cards in Raiser’s Edge that are:
 

• Stored on the Bio 2 or Org 2 tabs of the constituent record
• Recurring gifts and pledges with a gift status of Active or Held
• Recurring gifts and pledges that are in gift batches with a gift status of Active or Held

In Luminate Online, updates happen automatically. Please refer to these videos for more information:
 

• Luminate Online Credit Card Updater Service
• Reporting on Credit Card Updater in Luminate Online

What Now?

If you haven’t yet subscribed to Blackbaud Merchant Services or Credit Card Updater, contact us. And if you’re headed to bbcon, make sure to add these sessions to your agenda:
 

• Fundraising 101: Increase Your ROI
  Wednesday, October 26 at 1:30 p.m. in Woodrow Wilson Ballroom D
• Seven Steps to a Successful Sustainer Program
  Wednesday, October 26 at 3:15 p.m. in Chesapeake J-L

You should also check out the Data Health Center Guide before using Credit Card Updater in Raiser’s Edge so that you can prepare your database.