With brightwheel Billing, providers can easily accept online payments through brightwheel and also record payments made outside of the platform such as cash, check, or third-party apps like Zelle.
This added flexibility allows you to accept a variety of payment methods while keeping student balances accurate and making end-of-year tax reporting simple and stress-free.
What are payments made outside of brightwheel?
Any payment made and deposited outside of the brightwheel platform, like cash, check, subsidies, or third-party apps (e.g. Venmo, Interac e-Transfer), must be manually logged and applied to a studentâs invoice or balance. These types of payments are often referred to as âoffline paymentsâ.
Checks can be deposited through brightwheel or not. If deposited through brightwheel, there's no manual logging you need to do - brightwheel will take care of accounting and reporting once you deposit the check. Visit Deposit a check to learn more.
If you already deposited the check at your bank, you can manually log it as a payment in brightwheel for tracking purposes.
For cash payments, you will still need to deposit the money with your financial institution, and recording the transaction in brightwheel is for tracking purposes only. You have the option to email a receipt to the family when you record any of these payments
Log a payment made outside of brightwheel
Providers can take the steps below to document payments made and deposited outside of brightwheel via cash or a third-party app.
For checks, you digitally deposit the check through brightwheel which automatically logs the payment for the student. If you already deposited the check through your bank directly, you can take the steps below to log the check payment.
Log in on the web
Click Billing > Students > Select a student
Press Select an Action > Log a Payment
Complete the steps to enter the amount, payment method, notes, and apply it to any open invoices
Note: You can log a payment without immediately applying it to any invoices, especially if there are no open invoices at the time. These types of logged payments will appear as an available credit on the student account. You can allocate and apply this credit to an invoice at any time in the future.
Report on payments made outside of brightwheel
Accurate reporting is essential for administrators to get a clear picture of their programâs finances.
Checks deposited through brightwheel will appear on the Deposit Report. Payments made outside of brightwheel such as cash or third-party apps, and manually logged checks, will be documented in all brightwheel Billing reports, except the Deposit Report.
For a full breakdown of available reports, check out our Overview of Billing Reporting Options.
FAQs
Why can't I log a payment made outside of brightwheel?
Why can't I log a payment made outside of brightwheel?
It could be you need to finish setting up. Before you can log these types of payments (cash, Venmo, etc.), your billing setup must be complete and at least one payer added to a child's billing profile.
Can international providers use brightwheel for billing?
Can international providers use brightwheel for billing?
Providers outside the U.S. and Canada cannot process payments in brightwheel or receive deposits through brightwheel, as our payment processor is not compatible with these regions. However, international customersâor those who choose not to accept payments through brightwheelâcan still leverage the platform to manage billing plans for families.
These providers can still track cash, check, or third-party app payments by logging manual payments in brightwheel. These providers can still post charges to student billing accounts, notify parents of due balances, view what is owed, and issue receipts.