--- title: "What Is Dunning? Definition and Examples | RentAnOTT" description: "Dunning is the process of recovering failed subscription payments through retries and reminders. See how a dunning sequence works and what it saves." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/dunning" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/dunning.md" category: "Pricing & billing" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is dunning? Dunning is the process of recovering a subscription payment that has failed. It combines automatic retries of the charge with messages asking the subscriber to update their payment details, over a set period before the subscription is cancelled. ## Why payments fail Most of these are not a decision to cancel. The subscriber still wants the service and often does not know the payment failed. - The card expired or was replaced - Insufficient funds on the day of the charge - The bank declined the charge as suspicious - A spending limit was reached - A temporary technical fault at the bank or processor ## A typical dunning sequence - Day 0: the renewal fails; retry later the same day and notify the subscriber - Days 1 to 3: retry at a different time of day; send an email with a one-click link to update the card - Days 5 to 7: retry again; show a notice in the app - Days 10 to 14: final retry and final notice - End of the period: cancel the subscription and offer an easy way back ## What makes dunning effective Timing retries for when funds are likely to be available, such as just after a typical payday, recovers more than retrying at fixed intervals. Card networks' account updater services refresh expired card numbers automatically. Keeping access open during a short grace period gives the subscriber a reason to fix the problem instead of forgetting the service. Recovered payments are the cheapest retention there is: the customer has already been acquired and has not chosen to leave. ## Dunning on RentAnOTT Payments, refunds and finance reporting are managed in the RentAnOTT CMS on every plan. Retry schedules and reminders depend on the payment provider configured at launch, so ask us on a demo how failed renewals are handled in your setup. [See features](https://www.rentanott.com/features). ## Related terms - [Involuntary churn](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/involuntary-churn) — Involuntary churn is the loss of subscribers whose renewal payment failed and was never recovered. They did not choose to cancel; their card expired, was declined or lacked funds, and the subscription lapsed. - [Recurring billing](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/recurring-billing) — Recurring billing is charging a customer's saved payment method automatically at a fixed interval, such as every month or year, until they cancel. It is the billing mechanism behind every streaming subscription. - [Churn rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/churn-rate) — Churn rate is the percentage of a streaming service's subscribers who cancel or fail to renew during a period, usually a month. It is the main measure of how well a subscription service keeps its customers. - [Payment gateway](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/payment-gateway) — A payment gateway is the service that securely collects a customer's payment details, sends the transaction to the banks and card networks for approval, and reports the result back to the business. A streaming service uses one to sell subscriptions, rentals and purchases on the web. - [Retention rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/retention-rate) — Retention rate is the percentage of subscribers, or users, who are still with a service at the end of a period out of those who were there at the start. It is the mirror image of churn rate. - [In-app billing](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/in-app-billing) — In-app billing is the payment system that an app store, such as Apple's App Store, Google Play or the Amazon Appstore, provides for buying digital goods inside apps. It charges the payment method on the user's store account and manages renewals, refunds and cancellations for subscriptions bought that way. ## Further reading - [OTT subscription plans and tiers](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/ott-subscription-plans) - [OTT revenue calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/ott-revenue-calculator) - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing) ## Frequently asked questions ### Where does the word dunning come from? From the old verb to dun, meaning to demand payment of a debt repeatedly. ### How many times should a failed payment be retried? Three to five attempts over one to two weeks is typical. Card networks limit how often a declined charge may be retried, so more is not always allowed. ### Does dunning apply to app store subscriptions? The stores run their own retry and grace periods for subscriptions billed through them. Your part is to keep or pause access according to the status the store reports. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt