Interesting.  Thanks jenop2.

Then really I would not want to use QuickBooks Payments as I am already using BrainTree and would not want to complicate the situation.

1) Better to find a way to enter new customer credit card information into BrainTree as the only storage of customer credit card information.

2) Understand how to trigger payments in BrainTree for credit card customers - can QBO (batch invoicing based on certain criteria) accomplish this via PayTraQer or another means vs manual?

I'm learning.  This is a really helpful forum.