When scheduling a recurring transaction, our system will either: a) run the full transaction amount if the schedule starts today, or b) run a $1.00 test transaction to ensure the card is valid if the schedule starts in the future (the test transaction will automatically "drop off" the customers card).
Although there is no way to guarantee a card will be valid in the future, the initial temporary $1.00 charge is for your safety and catches the most basic data entry errors.