Sometimes payments don't go as planned. It's important to stay on top of failed payments and follow up quickly to make sure your program gets paid for the services provided.
Common reasons for failure
Payments can fail for several reasons, including:
• Insufficient funds
• Incorrect payment information
• An expired credit or debit card
• The payment being blocked by the payer's financial institution
For online payments made through brightwheel, the failure reason is provided by the payer’s financial institution, not brightwheel. If no reason is given or the payer disagrees with the reason, they should contact their financial institution for clarification.
When a payment fails
When a payment fails:
Both the program administrator and payer are notified by email or SMS
The failure reason (if provided by the financial institution) is included in the notification
A notification appears on your Admin Billing Dashboard
The failed payment appears in the student’s billing profile under All Transactions
In some cases, a failed payment may also result in a negative deposit, which removes previously deposited funds from a future payout.
Resolve a failed payment
If the payment was made online through brightwheel, the payer must resubmit the payment.
We recommend contacting the payer and asking them to:
Confirm their payment details are up to date
Contact their financial institution to resolve the underlying issue
Resubmit the payment in their brightwheel account (see Make a payment)
Once the payment is successfully submitted, the failed payment will be marked as resolved.
Investigate failed payments
Administrators can review failed payments in several places.
Student billing profile
Open the student’s billing profile and navigate to All Transactions > Credits & payments. Failed payments will be clearly labeled, and additional details may be available by selecting the information icon.
Payments & Credits Report
You can also run the Payments & Credits Report to view all failed payments. This report shows the payment date, student, payer account, transaction type, status, and amount. Go to Billing > Reports to run it.
Recommended filters:
Payment Status = Failed
Transaction Type = Online Payments
Deposits Report
Brightwheel handles failed payments and refunds by recovering funds it previously fronted. If a parent payment fails or an administrator issues an online refund, the amount may be deducted from your next deposit, which can appear as money being withdrawn, or as a negative deposit.
To review these:
Locate negative deposit entries
Click the drop-down arrow next to the deposit to see the payments attempted related to that deposit
FAQs
Will brightwheel automatically retry the failed payment?
Will brightwheel automatically retry the failed payment?
No, the payer must resubmit the payment manually.
If autopay is enabled, the payment will not be attempted again until the next invoice becomes due. The payer must make a manual payment if they want to resolve the balance sooner.
Who should payers contact for help?
Who should payers contact for help?
Payers should contact their financial institution if they need help resolving a payment failure since their institution provided the reason for the failure.
If they have questions about charges, credits, refunds, or payment plans, they should contact their provider directly, since providers manage all student billing.
For more information, see Who should payers contact with billing questions? The brightwheel Support Team is also here to help with additional questions.