Autopay enrollment and changes

How do we enroll a customer in autopay or change it with the authorization captured properly and the mandate written to billing?

Treat autopay as a mandate with required content, not a checkbox. Callvu identifies the customer and prefills the account (the billing cycle, the current method, any arrangement), presents the autopay terms in plain terms (the debit date relative to the bill, the amount as the bill total or a capped amount, how to change or cancel, what happens on a returned debit), takes the bank account or card details on a secure screen with the authorization language the bank rules require, captures the customer's agreement with the date and the identity evidence, provides the copy of the authorization, routes an account with a cash-only flag or a pending disconnection to the credit desk in the Decision Desk, and writes the mandate with its token reference and effective bill to the billing system.

In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: prefill, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The customer disputed the debit, and the utility could not produce the authorization because it had been a tick on a call.

Today, without Callvu

Autopay is the cheapest way to collect and the easiest to get wrong: an enrollment taken by voice with no written authorization, a bank account keyed with a transposed digit, a debit that takes the whole bill when the customer expected a cap, a cancellation that never reached billing so the next debit went out anyway. The customer's bank reverses the debit, and the utility's returned payment process starts on its own customer.

The bank network's rules require a recurring debit to rest on an authorization the customer gave in writing or in a similarly authenticated way, with the amount or the range and the timing, a copy provided, and a clear way to revoke; the consumer protection rules for electronic transfers add the error resolution rights. A mandate captured on a screen with the required content, stored with its evidence, is one the utility can produce when the bank asks.

The mandate is the proof; the debit is just the consequence.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A customer asks to enroll in autopay, change the method, the cap or the date, or cancel, online, in the app, by call or through an AI assistant. Callvu identifies them and opens the request.

Customer: Reads the terms, enters the method on a secure screen, agrees and receives the copy.
Agent: Sends the link on a call and sees status, never the details.
Credit and collections desk: Decides flagged accounts in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Prefills, presents the terms, captures the method and the authorization, routes and writes.

Prefill and present the terms
The account, the billing cycle and the next bill date, the current autopay state and any arrangement are prefilled; the terms are shown in plain terms: the debit date (a set number of days after the bill, or the due date), the amount (the bill total, or a cap with the remainder billed), the first bill the mandate applies to, how to change or revoke, and the returned debit consequences under the tariff.
Capture the method and the authorization
The bank account (routing and account, verified by a micro-deposit or an instant verification where offered) or the card is entered on a secure screen and tokenized; the authorization language with the required content is shown and the customer agrees with the date and the authentication evidence recorded; a copy of the authorization is sent to the customer.
Decide exceptions
An account with a cash-only flag from returned payments, a pending disconnection, a method that fails verification, or a request to enroll by someone other than the account holder goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the account and only the allowed outcomes (allow, allow after the first payment clears, or decline with the reason).
Write back
The mandate with its terms, the token reference, the effective bill and the authorization evidence is written to the billing system, the confirmation goes to the customer with the first debit date, a change replaces the prior mandate with the prior kept for the record, and a revocation stops the next debit from the date the rules require.

Where it ends: The customer enrolled on a screen with the terms understood, the authorization has the content the bank rules require with a copy provided, and the billing system holds the mandate the debits will run from. The Decision Trace shows the terms, the verification and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the capture, the agreement and the write with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

NACHA authorization rules: Under the NACHA Operating Rules, a recurring consumer debit (a PPD entry) requires an authorization that is in writing or similarly authenticated, readily identifiable as an authorization, with the amount or a range, the timing and the account, and the terms of revocation; the originator provides the consumer a copy and retains the authorization for two years after termination and produces it on the bank's request; a debit without a proper authorization is returnable as unauthorized within sixty days of the statement.
Regulation E (12 CFR 1005.10) preauthorized transfers: A preauthorized electronic fund transfer from a consumer account may be authorized only by a writing signed or similarly authenticated by the consumer with a copy provided; where the amount varies, the payee gives notice of the amount and date at least ten days before the transfer unless the consumer chose a range; the consumer may stop payment with three business days' notice to their bank.
State commission tariff rules on payment methods and returned payments: The tariff sets the methods accepted for autopay, any fee for card autopay, and the consequences of a returned debit (the fee and the cash-only designation) that the terms disclose.

Company policies

The terms are shown and agreed before the method is captured; a cap and a date are the customer's choice within the rules.
The method is entered on a secure screen and tokenized; agents never hold account numbers.
The authorization has the bank rules' content and a copy goes to the customer; it is retained with its evidence.
The billing system is the system of record for the mandate; a revocation stops the next debit from the required date.

Controls

Account prefill with the cycle and the current state.
Plain-terms disclosure with cap and date choices.
Secure capture with verification and tokenization.
Authorization capture with required content and copy.
Decision Desk for flagged accounts.
Billing write with mandate history and revocation handling.

Clocks and deadlines

First debit: The first bill after enrollment, shown to the customer before they agree.
Variable amount notice: At least ten days before a debit where the amount varies outside a chosen range (Reg E).
Revocation: Effective for the next debit from the date the rules and the terms set.

Documents and checks

The terms as shown
The tokenized method and its verification
The authorization with the date and the evidence, and the copy sent
The billing system mandate record

In the Decision Trace

The terms chosen.
The verification result.
Any decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The capture with time (tokenized).
The agreement with time and authentication.
The write and the copy sent.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The website, the app, a call with a link or an AI assistant; the customer completes on a secure screen.

The back office

The credit desk sees only flagged accounts; billing runs the debits from the mandate.

The Decision Desk

A cash-only account, a pending disconnection, a failed verification or a non-holder enrolling goes to the credit and collections desk in the Decision Desk with the account and only allow, allow after the first payment clears, or decline with the reason.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

What must the authorization contain?

The amount or a range, the timing, the account and the revocation terms, in a form the bank rules recognize as an authorization, with a copy to the customer and the record retained.

Can the customer cap the debit?

Yes, within the rules: the amount is the bill total or a cap chosen by the customer with the remainder billed, and the choice is on the mandate.

How is a cancellation handled?

The revocation is captured the same way and stops the next debit from the date the rules and the terms set, with the prior mandate kept for the record.

Related processes

Payments on a secure screen during a call Budget billing enrollment Returned payment handling Text and call consent capture Try it in the sandbox All utilities processes

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