# I want to pause the subscription if the user fails to pay for the subscription

**URL:** <https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/i-want-to-pause-the-subscription-if-the-user-fails-to-pay-for-the-subscription/8221>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** subscriptions-api\
**Created:** [January 13, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/i-want-to-pause-the-subscription-if-the-user-fails-to-pay-for-the-subscription/8221 "2023-01-13T16:18:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![koutaku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@koutaku](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/koutaku)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/i-want-to-pause-the-subscription-if-the-user-fails-to-pay-for-the-subscription/8221/1 "2023-01-13T16:18:28Z")

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I want to pause the subscription if the user fails to pay for the subscription.  
How can I do this?

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**Author:** ![Bryan-Square](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/square/forums/user_avatar/developer.squareup.com/bryan-square/32/38_2.png) [@Bryan-Square](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/u/Bryan-Square)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://developer.squareup.com/forums/t/i-want-to-pause-the-subscription-if-the-user-fails-to-pay-for-the-subscription/8221/2 "2023-01-13T17:31:13Z")

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With the subscriptions API a subscription can be paused for a number of billing cycles without being canceled. Call [PauseSubscription](https://developer.squareup.com/reference/square/subscriptions-api/pause-subscription) and include the `id` of the subscription to pause. Optionally, you can include a `pause_reason` and, if you know how long the subscription should be paused before being resumed, you can include either a `pause_cycle_duration` (the number of billing cycles to pause) or a `resume_effective_date` in the request. When called, a `PAUSE` [action](https://developer.squareup.com/docs/subscriptions-api/overview#subscriptions-actions-overview) is scheduled and the subscription is paused at the end of the current billing period. At this time, the subscription’s `status` is set to PAUSED. 🙂