Brightwheel's billing platform prioritizes timely payments for administrators. This resource outlines how providers can easily identify past due balances, charge late fees, and conveniently remind families to resolve overdue payments.
Configure Settings and Policy
To begin charging late fees, a program administrator must configure the program's Late Payment Fees. From the Billing Settings, admins should can set the late fee amount, grace period, and how soon the fees should be due.
💡 Learn how to configure your late payment fees in your billing settings!
Automatic Late Payment Notifications
There are a few different billing notifications that are sent automatically by brightwheel to payers:
When a new invoice is posted
When a balance is due
When a balance becomes past due (the morning after the due date)
All payers on a student's account will receive a notification when there is a past-due invoice. After these automatic notices, providers can send manual payment reminders for past due balances.
Send a Payment Reminder
Providers can manually send a payment reminder if the a payer has yet to complete the transaction, or take steps to charge a late fee. The option to send a payment reminder will only be visible if there is a past-due balance on the account.
Log in to your account on the web
Click to open the Billing page
Scroll down and view the 'Unpaid' tab
Locate the student to send a reminder for
Click the Actions drop-down menu and select Send a reminder
Review the confirmation message and click Send
💡 Billing reminder notifications are preset and cannot be customized. If you need to include additional information, we also recommend messaging the parents privately.
Payer Experience
Once an admin has sent the reminder, the payer(s) will receive a notification that prompts them to make a payment and enroll in autopay to avoid future past-due payments!
If the payer(s) have an email address and phone number on file, the reminder will be sent to their email by default. If the payer(s) only has a phone number on file, a similar reminders will be sent via SMS text message.
Process Late Payment Fees
Once the late payment fee settings have been configured, these charges can start to be processed against that policy.
Go to the Billing tab on the web
Navigate to the At a Glance dashboard or Students tab
Click Select an action menu and choose Add a late payment fee
Use the checkboxes to select the charges for which to charge a late payment fee. The charges displayed will only show past due payments that have not already been waived or had a late fee applied.
Click Next
Add an optional message in Notes to be sent with the late payment charge
When ready, click Create charge
ℹ️ Important Notes
This will create an invoice that posts to the student's account and payers will be notified immediately. Late payment fees will always be assigned to the primary payer.
Only the primary payer will be notified when a late payment fee is added, when the fee becomes due, and when the fee becomes past due. However, all payers will be able to see and pay the late payment fee invoices from their accounts.
Waive Late Payment Fees
Admins reserve the right to waive late payment fees when applicable.
Go to the Billing tab on the web
Navigate to the At a Glance dashboard or Students tab
Click Select an action menu and choose Add a late payment fee
Use the checkboxes on the left to select the charges that should be waived. Only past due payments that have not yet been waived or already had a late fee applied will appear.
Click Waive
Click Are you sure? This will waive X charge to confirm the action
💡 If a late payment fee was charged by mistake, we recommend you void that invoice from the student's billing profile.
