Continuity billing is any model that charges a customer automatically on a schedule until they cancel: subscriptions, memberships and trial offers that convert to a full price plan. Card schemes and regulators treat it as a risk class of its own, with specific rules on disclosure, consent, reminders and cancellation.
Why it matters
Recurring charges, billed as merchant initiated transactions, are where forgotten sign ups become friendly fraud, which is why continuity merchants live closer to chargeback thresholds than almost anyone else. The rules keep tightening: negative option billing regulation demands consent as easy to withdraw as it was to give, and scheme rules require reminders before a trial converts. Run well, with clear descriptors, honest trial terms and disciplined dunning, continuity billing is the strongest revenue model in payments; run loosely, it is the fastest route into a monitoring program.