Glossary · UK
What is Continuous Payment Authority (CPA)?
A recurring permission given to a company to take payments from a debit or credit card whenever it decides, commonly used by subscriptions, gyms and payday lenders.
Full Definition
A Continuous Payment Authority (CPA) is permission given by a card holder to a business allowing it to take payments from their debit or credit card on a recurring basis, without the cardholder needing to authorise each individual payment. It works differently from a standard Direct Debit: a Direct Debit is governed by a bank-run guarantee scheme with fixed advance-notice rules, whereas a CPA is set up directly between the customer and the merchant using stored card details, and the merchant itself decides when and how much to collect, subject to the terms agreed. CPAs are commonly used by subscription services, gym memberships, free trials that roll into paid subscriptions, and short-term payday lenders, who may attempt to collect a missed repayment (in full or in part) repeatedly if the first attempt fails. Under FCA rules, a customer can cancel a CPA at any time by contacting either the merchant or their own bank or card provider directly -- the bank must cancel it on request and cannot insist the customer go back to the merchant first, even though in practice some banks wrongly try to redirect customers. Because CPAs allow flexible, repeated collection, they have historically been linked to complaints about unexpected or excessive withdrawals, particularly from payday lenders attempting to recover missed instalments.