If this content does not match what you see in your account, you may be on our legacy billing platform.
The number one goal for brightwheel’s billing platform is to help you get paid on time every time. The first step to accepting online payments is ensuring that payment settings are properly adjusted - giving you maximum control over your billing process.
Table of Contents
Payment Options
Accept Online Payments
With brightwheel Billing, you have full control over how and when you'd like to begin accepting online payments from payers. This is helpful for new programs to brightwheel Billing that would like to set up plans and charges but aren’t ready to accept online payments from payers through brightwheel yet.
Log in on the web
Navigate to the Billing tab
Click to open Billing Settings
In the 'Payment Options' tile, manage the 'Accept online payments' setting to toggle ON/OFF as needed
Turn this setting ON to allow families to pay online. Families will not be able to pay through the brightwheel app if this setting is off so we recommend turning it on as soon as you are ready to set up brightwheel billing. Payers who have enrolled in autopay will have payments initiated automatically on the due date.
When this toggle is turned OFF, payers will still be able to add and set up their payment methods but won’t be able to submit online payments. This allows your families to prepare to make payments through brightwheel as soon as they set up their accounts. You will still be able to add charges, and recurring charges will post as usual to students’ billing accounts.
When toggling Accept online payments to OFF, you'll have two options: Cancel all pending autopay payments and Collect all pending autopay payments.
If you choose to collect all pending autopayments, autopay will trigger for all upcoming scheduled recurring charges along with any posted charges. However, payers will no longer be able to make manual payments on their student's accounts.
If you choose to cancel all pending autopayments, autopay will not initiate payments.
You have full control over which online payment methods are acceptable forms of payment. If you do not wish to accept online payments through brightwheel at all and simply want to use the billing feature to log payments that are made offline, that’s totally acceptable and free of charge.
Accept Cards
Once you add a deposit account, payers will immediately be eligible to pay their balances through Bank Account Transfers (ACH). Brightwheel also allows payers to pay via credit and debit cards. Accepting card payments is disabled by default, but this option can be turned on in the Billing Settings.
Log in on the web
Navigate to the Billing tab
Click to open Billing Settings
In the 'Payment Options' tile, manage the 'Accept card payments' setting to toggle ON/OFF as needed
Turn this setting ON if you would like to accept credit card and debit card payments. We recommend turning this setting on if you currently accept card payments in your center or if you would like families to have the option to pay using credit cards, debit cards, or FSA cards online.
Eligible Card Types: The accepted credit card brands are Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, Diners Club, and China UnionPay.
Make Autopay Mandatory
Brightwheel understands how important it is that payments are made on time as often as possible. One way to achieve this is by requiring payers to enroll in autopay. Autopay guarantees that on the invoice due date, the payer's payment method will be charged automatically for the full balance due, including any past due balance.
By default, making autopay mandatory will be turned on for new schools — we recommend keeping it on to ensure on-time payments from all families within your center. If you do need to turn it off, follow these instructions:
Log in on the web
Navigate to the Billing tab
Click to open Billing Settings
In the 'Payment Options' tile, manage the 'Make autopay mandatory' setting to toggle ON/OFF as needed
When a payer adds a new payment method and autopay is mandatory, they will see a popup similar to the one below that requires them to enroll. Payers can not turn autopay off for themselves when it is mandatory.
Processing Fees
These settings allow you to pass payment processing fees along to the person making a payment. If enabled, your organization will not be charged payment processing fees. Instead, payers will pay these fees when they go to make an online payment, and they will see how much the fee is.
Some state restrictions may apply to vendors' ability to charge their customers for these fees. It is your responsibility to determine if your organization can pass along such fees to the payer. Brightwheel recommends that you or your administrator review any applicable regulations that may apply before turning on these settings.
Log in on the web
Navigate to the Billing tab
Click to open Billing Settings
In the 'Processing Fees' tile, manage the available settings to toggle ON/OFF as needed
Pass card processing fee to payers - Turn this setting on to pass the credit card fee to payers when they make a payment for an invoice.
Pass ACH processing fees to payers - Turn this setting on to pass the ACH fee to payers when they make a payment for an invoice.
💡If either of these processing fee settings is enabled, it is highly recommended that you communicate with your families that there may be fees associated with their selected method of payment. Fees will apply to all online payments, including autopay.
Late Payment Fees
You can set up your Late Payment Fee Policy here to configure how your center will charge families for past due invoices. These settings are optional but must be configured before you can add late payment fees to invoices.
Late payment fees are not automatically assessed. Learn more about applying late fees.
Log in on the web
Navigate to the Billing tab
Click to open Billing Settings
Configure your late payment fee policy using the options in the 'Late Payment Fees' tile
Late Fee Amount - Enter the amount you would like to charge families when invoices are paid late. For example, if you would like to charge $5 when an invoice is paid after the due date, enter 5 in this field.
Late payment fees apply after… - Enter the number of days after the due date when a late payment fee should be applied. For example, if the $5 fee added above should be charged when invoices are one week late, enter 7 in this field.
Late payment fees are due… - Enter the number of days after the late payment fee is assessed to set a due date for the fee. For example, if you would like late payment fees to be due immediately, enter 1 in this field.
What’s Next?
Once you’ve finished configuring your billing settings, download the billing set up guide for 3 simple steps to get fully set up with brightwheel billing.