a method of collecting a payment from a postage meter customer having a past due account including receiving a service request from the postage meter , requesting that the customer provide credit card information through the postage meter for purposes of charging the payment , and performing the service if the customer provides the credit card information , and denying the service if the customer does not provide the credit card information . also , a method of updating payment method information for a customer including receiving a request from the postage meter for a postage refill to be charged to default credit card , attempting to charge payment for the refill to default credit card and determined that the charge has been rejected , receiving new credit card information from the postage meter and thereafter providing the postage refill and storing the new credit card information for use in the future trasactions .