[Sigia-l] Best Practices for Recurring Payments

[Jeff Lash]

Jess not-so-subtly mentioned:
> I had hopes that I could look back on the list
> at the end of this week, and see some real shop talk,
> as Marc Rettig encouraged

Well, I'm more than happy to oblige.

Has anyone had any experience designing a system to set up recurring
payments? What was your solution? Is it a public-viewable URL that you'd
like to share?

Just to make sure everyone's on the same page, I'm talking about a system
where, for example, you can set up your mortgage payment to automatically be
deducted from your bank account on the same day every month, or have your
gym membership automatically charged to your credit card on a regular basis.

I'm especially curious to see how others dealt with issues like:
- Do you allow users to specify the day of the month (i.e. 15th of every
month) or only pick the recurrence (i.e. once a month)? How do you deal with
users picking 29/30/31 of the month, since those dates obviously don't occur
every month? What about if they choose a weekend date (since financial
institutions usually don't process on non-business days)?
- What about setting up payments for more frequently (several times a month)
or less frequently (once every six months, or once a year)? How much control
does the user have in choosing the date and schedule?

[I've got some ideas, but I'm curious to see what others have done.]

I'd prefer answers along the lines of "Here's the URL of something I worked
on" rather than "Here's the URL of the bank that I use," in keeping with
recent comments on the list, but any suggestions are appreciated.

Jeff