# Customers

A customer is your record of one buyer. It holds their saved payment methods and links their payments and subscriptions together.

Customers are entirely optional. A payment or subscription that names no customer behaves exactly as it always has.

## What a customer gives you[​](#what-a-customer-gives-you "Direct link to What a customer gives you")

### Saved payment methods in one place[​](#saved-payment-methods-in-one-place "Direct link to Saved payment methods in one place")

Every payment method a buyer saves under a customer can be listed, charged again, and deleted. You no longer have to store payment tokens yourself and match them to your own user records.

### A default payment method[​](#a-default-payment-method "Direct link to A default payment method")

The first reusable payment method a customer saves becomes their default. Send `useDefaultPaymentMethod` on a payment instead of a `paymentToken` and MONEI charges it, so you never have to look the token up.

You can point `defaultTokenId` at a different payment method at any time. MONEI only ever fills a default that is empty, so your value is kept — but deleting that payment method clears the field, and the next reusable one the customer saves takes its place.

### Subscription renewal failover[​](#subscription-renewal-failover "Direct link to Subscription renewal failover")

When a subscription names a customer and a renewal is declined by the issuing bank, MONEI automatically retries the renewal against the customer's other saved payment methods — up to two more, in one attempt.

If one succeeds, the subscription continues and moves to that payment method. If all of them are declined, the subscription follows its usual retry schedule. See [List Payment Methods](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-list-payment-methods/) for what counts as a candidate.

Failover only runs on an outright decline by the issuer. A payment whose outcome is uncertain never triggers a second charge.

### Erasing a buyer[​](#erasing-a-buyer "Direct link to Erasing a buyer")

Deleting a customer deletes every payment method it owns, which is what a data-erasure request usually asks for.

## What a customer is not[​](#what-a-customer-is-not "Direct link to What a customer is not")

A customer is **not** required to take a payment. It is not a login, it is not shared between merchant accounts, and it does not change how any existing payment is processed.

`customerId` on a payment is also unrelated to `paymentMethod.trustly.customerId`, which is an identifier Trustly returns for its own account holder.

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## [📄️Create Customer](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-create.md)

[Creates a customer.](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-create.md)

## [📄️Get Customer](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-get.md)

[Retrieves a customer by its unique ID.](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-get.md)

## [📄️Update Customer](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-update.md)

[Updates a customer. Only the fields you send are changed.](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-update.md)

## [📄️Delete Customer](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-delete.md)

[Deletes a customer and every payment method it owns.](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-delete.md)

## [📄️List Payment Methods](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-list-payment-methods.md)

[Lists the payment methods a customer has saved.](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-list-payment-methods.md)

## [📄️Delete Payment Method](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-delete-payment-method.md)

[Deletes one of a customer's saved payment methods.](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/customers-delete-payment-method.md)