# Contract

> A contract is a customer's ongoing agreement to pay — a recurring payment, an amount paid in instalments, or a one-off scheduled payment. This screen shows a si

A contract is a customer's ongoing agreement to pay — a recurring payment, an amount paid in instalments, or a one-off scheduled payment. This screen shows a single contract's status, schedule, and full history, and is the hub from which you open its charges and make changes.

### Where to find it

Open a contract from the contract search results, or follow a link from an account, payment method, or transaction.

### What you see

- The [Account header](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-accounts/#account-header) and the [Contract header](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-contracts/#contract-header): the amount, frequency and status, and the contract's own controls.
- [Arrears](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-contracts/#arrears): shown only when the contract is behind, with the overdue amount, the last attempt and where the automatic retries have got to.
- The [Contract statement](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-contracts/#contract-statement): a timeline of every charge, payment and event on the contract, past and future, with the running balance.
- [Contract versions](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-contracts/#contract-versions): for a contract that has been amended, its versions and a switch to show the history of every version at once.
- [Paid by](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-transactions/#paid-by): the saved payment method the contract collects from, and [Processed by](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-transactions/#processed-by): the provider that processes it.
- [Comments](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-shared/#comments) and the [Audit history](/platforms/user-guides/admin-sections-shared/#audit-history): what has happened to the contract over its life, when, and by whom.

### What you can do

| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Edit contract** | Change the contract's terms or convert it to a scheduled contract. See **Edit a contract**. |
| **Suspend** | Pause a recurring contract so no further payments are collected, confirmed in a pop-up. Rules: [Suspend a contract](/platforms/user-guides/rules-contract-suspend/). |
| **Terminate** | End the contract, confirmed in a pop-up. You can choose to write off whatever is outstanding; for an unresolved contract the write-off is applied automatically. Rules: [Terminate a contract](/platforms/user-guides/rules-contract-terminate/). |
| **Change payment method** | Choose a different saved card or bank account for the contract's future payments, through the checkout. Shown when payment-method editing is enabled and the contract allows it. Rules: [Change the payment method on a contract](/platforms/user-guides/rules-contract-change-payment-method/). |
| **Edit next charge** | Change the next upcoming charge. See **Edit an upcoming charge or payment**. |
| **Schedule payment** | In the arrears section: choose when the overdue amount is next collected. See **Edit an upcoming charge or payment**. |
| **Make payment** | In the arrears section: take the overdue amount now. See Taking a payment. Rules: [Collect a contract's arrears now](/platforms/user-guides/rules-contract-make-payment/). |
| **View a charge** | Open a single charge. See **Charge**. |
| **Show full contract chain** | On a contract that has been amended, show the comments and history of every version, not just this one. |
| **Resume** | Restart a suspended contract, choosing when its next charge falls due where the contract allows it, confirmed before it takes effect. See Resuming a contract. Rules: [Resume a contract](/platforms/user-guides/rules-contract-resume/). |

### Things to note

- The controls available depend on your contract permissions, and some depend on features being enabled for your organisation.
- A one-off contract opens in its checkout view rather than this recurring layout.
- **Suspend** appears on an active recurring contract, **Resume** only on a suspended one, and **Terminate** on a recurring contract that is still live.
- **Make payment** and **Schedule payment** are offered only while the contract is in arrears, and not while a collection is already pending or has just run.
- The arrows above the contract (or the left and right keys) step through the other contracts from your last search.
- Once a contract has been amended into a newer version it becomes a read-only record: its status shows **Updated**, and editing, suspending, resuming and terminating are offered on the newer contract instead. Follow the link in the version timeline to get there.
- If the contract has a **keep active until** date set (see **Edit a contract**), it is marked on the statement timeline and noted in the contract summary — showing when the contract is being held open past its final payment for a late amendment.

### Related tasks

- Taking a payment
- Resuming a contract