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How do I pause my MBTA monthly pass auto-pay subscription?

Written by Support
Updated today

Let’s say you’ve enrolled in auto-pay with the MBTA and normally use your monthly pass to commute, but you won’t need your monthly pass over the summer. It’s possible to stop your auto-pay subscription and restart it later; however, keep in mind these important notes:

  • To "pause" auto-pay, you must cancel your current auto-pay subscription with the MBTA. To restart, you'll create a new subscription and the MBTA will mail you a new CharlieCard (your previous card cannot be reused). Learn more on the MBTA’s About auto-pay page.

  • You must update both your Jawnt enrollment on the Jawnt website and your auto-pay subscription on the MyCharlie website.

    • If you update your Jawnt enrollment without cancelling your auto-pay subscription, the MBTA will notify you of "insufficient funds" and automatically cancel your subscription after three failed payment attempts on the 22nd, 24th, and 26th of the month.

    • If you cancel your auto-pay subscription without updating your Jawnt Pass enrollment, you’ll continue to receive funds on your Jawnt Pass debit card each month, and may end up accruing more money on your card than you need.

  • The monthly deadline to update your Jawnt enrollment is the 7th of the month by 11:59pm. The monthly deadline to update your auto-pay subscription is the 22nd of the month at 5pm ET.

    • For example, if you want to stop your auto-pay subscription starting in June, you’ll need to update your Jawnt enrollment by May 7th and your auto-pay settings by May 22nd.

Read on for detailed steps on how to update your auto-pay subscription.

Step 1: Update your Jawnt enrollment

  1. Log in to your Jawnt account

  2. In the My Passes section of your Jawnt account, find the Jawnt Pass benefit and click the Edit button

  3. On the next page, scroll down and click on the Monthly Transit Amount

  4. Change your monthly transit amount to $0 (or whatever amount you estimate you’ll be spending on transit in the next month)

  5. At the bottom of the page, click Update enrollment

You’ll receive a notification confirming your updated enrollment, and your changes will go into effect the following benefit month.

Step 2: Update your auto-pay subscription

  1. Sign in at mycharlie.mbta.com

  2. From the top menu, go to Auto-pay, then select Your auto-pay subscription

  3. Select the option to cancel your auto-pay subscription

Note: Once cancelled, continue to use your pass through the end of the current month. The MBTA does not offer refunds for partial months.

How to resume auto-pay

When you’re ready to resume auto-pay, you’ll follow a similar process as above to adjust both your Jawnt enrollment and add a new auto-pay subscription.

  1. In Jawnt, edit your Jawnt Pass enrollment and change your monthly transit amount back to the full cost of your monthly pass.

    1. Be sure to do this by the 7th of the month preceding your desired start month.

  2. On the MyCharlie website, go to Add auto-pay subscription and follow these steps to add a new subscription.

    1. Be sure to do this by the 22nd of the month to receive your new monthly pass in the mail by the 1st of the next month.

For more FAQs about auto-pay, see the MBTA’s About auto-pay page.

Have questions? Reach out to Jawnt Support and we’ll be happy to help.

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