Automatic payment reminders are sent to families, and providers also have the option to manually send reminders when needed. If a payment remains overdue, providers can enable late fees to apply charges to outstanding balances.
In cases where a late fee is no longer applicable, providers always have the flexibility to waive fees on an individual basis.
🚀 New!
Providers can now automatically charge late fees, saving time and manual effort! Learn how to enable automatic fees within your settings.
When the "automated late fee" setting is turned on, you’ll no longer have access to the manual tool you use to create late fees since these invoices are automatically generated.
Turn on late payment fees
If you’ve already enabled late fees, your late fee policy will already be in place. If you haven't already, you must input your late payment fee policy in brightwheel to enable late fees.
Here's how:
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar menu > Billing Settings tab
Locate the ‘Late payment fees’ tile
Add fee details and choose if the fee will compound, then click Save
💡 Tip: Many providers share their late payment fee policy with families digitally through Tuition Agreements in brightwheel. Doing so helps ensure clarity for families and can prevent potential disputes in the future.
Ways to customize a late fee policy
Administrators can customize the following details for their late payment policy:
Flat fee amount to be charged for late payments (this is a one-time charge, but can be set to compound )
Grace period for the number of days past due before the fee applies
Due date for when the late fee should be paid
Automatically charge late payment fees
To start charging automatic late fees, first enable the setting and configure your program’s late fee policy, if you haven’t already. When a late fee is applied, families will receive a separate invoice for the fee.
Note: If this is your first time turning on automatic late fees, you can choose to apply late payment fees to all existing overdue invoices or only apply late payment fees to future overdue invoices (this option will exclude currently overdue invoices from late fees).
How to turn on automatic late fees:
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > Billing Settings tab
Under ‘Late Payment Fees’, turn ON 'Automatically apply late fees' and enter your fee policy
When finished, click Save
To manually assess and charge late fees for all invoices, you can opt out of automatic late fees by keeping this setting OFF.
View sent late fee invoices
Every night, late fee invoices sent to families will populate under its own tab from Billing > At a Glance > Late fees.
From this tab, you can view:
Late fee invoices
Which overdue invoice(s) triggered the late fee
The late fee amount due
The fee payment status (paid, unpaid, voided, waived)
When charges are due for the payer.
You can also void or waive the late fee invoices from this tab.
Void or waive late payment fees
Providers have the flexibility to waive or void late payment fees if they no longer apply.
Locate the late fee invoice:
From the students’ billing profile
Or under Billing > At a Glance > Automatic late fees tab
Click Actions next to the invoice
Select Void or Waive
If you don’t have automatic late fees turned on, you will need to take different steps here to void or waive these manually charged invoices.
Manually manage late payment fees
If you prefer not to use automatic late fees, you do have the option to only manually apply fees to overdue bills using our manual late payment fee tool. However, we highly recommend turning on automatic late fees to save you significant time and effort.
How manual late fee charges work
When automatic late fees are disabled, this tool will still gather all past-due charges for you, but you will still need to review each charge and bill each family manually.
When automatic late fees are enabled, the option to manually charge late fees this way is not available . If you need to add a one-off late fee in that case, you can do so by sending a one-time charge.
Manually charge late fees
Log in on the web
Turn off ‘Automatic late payment fees’ under settings
Click Billing in the sidebar > At a Glance tab
Press Select an action in the top right > Add a late payment fee
Continue through the steps to review the students, then click Create charges when done
Void or waive late fees (if automatic late fees are off)
If automatic late fees are turned off and you manually invoice for late fees, take the steps below to void or waive these late fee invoices.
Log in on the web
Click Billing in the sidebar > At a Glance tab
Press Select an action in the top right > Add a late payment fee
Use the checkboxes on the left to select the charges that should be waived
Click Waive
FAQs
How do I charge a one-off late fee?
How do I charge a one-off late fee?
If automatic fees are enabled, late fees are automatically generated. If you must manually create a one-time charge for the fee that wasn’t charged automatically:
Go to Billing
Click Select an action (top right)
Choose Add a one-time charge and enter the late fee details.
How do compounding late fees work?
How do compounding late fees work?
If you’ve turned this setting on, all invoices (including late fee invoices) that are late after your set grace period will be assessed a late fee.
Will autopay trigger for late fees?
Will autopay trigger for late fees?
If autopay is turned on, late fee invoices will be included when autopay runs.
Can I customize my billing reminder notifications?
Can I customize my billing reminder notifications?
Billing reminder notifications are preset and cannot be customized. If you need to include additional information, we also recommend messaging the parents privately.
How do I reverse a late payment fee I charged by mistake?
How do I reverse a late payment fee I charged by mistake?
If a late payment fee was charged by mistake, or no longer applies, you can waive or void late fee invoice after the late fee has been assessed and the invoice created. Automatically charged late fees must be voided or waived after they’ve been created.