Charging families and processing online payments are now available in brightwheel for providers located in Canada! 🎉

The first step to accept online payments through brightwheel is to add a deposit account. This is the account that online payments made by payers will be deposited into — it must be a checking account affiliated with a Canada bank. It is the fastest and easiest way to get money from payers to you!

🇺🇸 If you are a provider located in the U.S., please refer to our resource Manage Deposit Account in the U.S. to add a deposit account.

Setup Deposit Account

In order to add a deposit account and collect payments through the brightwheel app, the School Information section needs to be completed. Once that section has been filled out, the option to add your bank account information will be displayed. Depending on what's selected during the School Information step, additional tax details may need to be entered.

🇨🇦 For Canadian providers, all charges are billed in the Canadian Dollar, (CAD), paid in CAD and deposited in Canadian bank accounts as CAD. Amounts are denoted with a dollar sign ($).

Step 1️⃣: Input School Information

To get started, an administrator will enter the school’s information through the Billing Settings page. Make sure to have the required information ready, such as the school’s complete address, information for the primary billing administrator and your Registration number (if assigned).

Log in to brightwheel on the web
Open the Billing tab from the purple dashboard menu
Click Get set up or the Activate Account tab
Click Add information
In the pop-up window, enter the Mobile number & Email address
Click Continue
Enter the 6-digit verification code sent to the phone number just added
Select the Type of Business and the Business structure. Visit What is my business Type & Structure? if you're unsure which option to select.
1. Types include Individual or Sole proprietorship, Company, & Non-profit
2. Structures include Corporation, Partnership, Registered Charity, & Non-profit organization
Click Continue
Complete the requested fields in their entirety, and click Continue

ℹ️ The Billing Administrator should be the person who manages and is authorized to make decisions about the company's funds. That can be the owner, site manager, staff accountant, etc. The Billing Administrator does not need to match the name of the Bank Account owner.

Step 2️⃣: Add Deposit Account Information

Once the above information is completed and saved, the option to add a deposit account will appear. The deposit account must be a checking account connected to a United States, or Canada-based bank.

Under Add an account for payouts
Input the relevant bank account information and numbers
Click Continue

Step 3️⃣: Verify Your Identity

Under ‘Management and ownership’, click Edit next to the highlightest ‘Information Required’ label
Under ‘Additional Information’ select from the three options to verify your identity through Stripe, brightwheel’s payment processor
Review the summary of information entered and checking it is correct, clicking Edit next to fields as needed
Click Confirm to submit the information to brightwheel
Wait until you see a message confirming successful submission. The administrator will receive an email notifying when the verification is complete.

ℹ️ It can take up to three business days for the brightwheel Payment Operations team to verify the individual or business before receiving payments is possible. The best way to ensure that your identity is verified quickly is to enter all required information as accurately as possible. While the account is being verified, the details entered cannot be edited

Verify a Billing Account

Sometimes the payment processor will request additional information about the deposit account and/or the billing administrator. These additional steps are taken to confirm the identity of the listed person and help prevent the misuse of the brightwheel billing platform.

In the case that additional information is required, the account administrator will receive an email outlining exactly what steps need to be taken, how to follow up, and a direct email address in case there are any questions. Responding to these requests in a timely manner is vital to getting the program up and running on brightwheel billing as quickly as possible.

💡 If you are the program Administrator and need assistance verifying your deposit account, please reach out to verify@mybrightwheel.com.

Update the Deposit Account

After the original deposit account has been verified, administrators can change the routing and account numbers to update the deposit account where payments are deposited.

Navigate to the Billing section of brightwheel
Go to the Settings tab
Under Billing Setting, scroll down to the bottom of the page
Click Sign in to see details
In the pop-up window, click Send code
Enter the 6-digit verification code sent to the phone number associated with the account
Navigate to the Payout details
Click the three dots next to the bank account to Edit, or Remove the bank account
Click Add bank account to add an additional account
If you’ve added two bank accounts, click Change default currency to select if the payouts will be converted to USD, or CAD before sending to the desired bank account.
Once edits are made, it will be saved automatically and the window can be exited

Remove a Deposit Account

Removing a deposit account on an Administrator's account will mean that parents will no longer be able to make payments through the brightwheel platform. To remove a deposit account on an Admin account for any reason, please complete this form. Our support team will be able to assist in removing this account and will follow up once complete.

What is my business Type & Structure?

When adding a deposit account, providers will be asked to select a legal entity for their company, including the type and structure of their business. Please refer to the table below for guidance.

Business Type

Individual or sole proprietorship	This option is for an unincorporated business that is owned by one individual and does not have a 9-digit Business Number (BN).
Company	This option is for businesses that have a 9-digit Business Number (BN) issued by the CRA.
Non-profit	Please visit the CRA’s Income Tax Guide to the Non-Profit Organization to determine if this business type applies to you

Business Structure

Once the business type is selected, providers will be asked to list their business Structure.

Corporation	This is for businesses that are a separate legal entity that can enter into contracts and own property in its own name, separately and distinctly from its owners. When forming a corporation, the owners transfer money, property, or services to the corporation in exchange for shares.
Partnership	This is for businesses that are a an association or relationship between two or more individuals, corporations, trusts, or partnerships that join together to carry on a trade or business. Like a sole proprietorship, a partnership is easy to form.
Registered Charity	This is for programs that are a charitable organization, public foundation, or private foundation registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRD), and have been issued a Registration Number.
Non-profit organization	This is for programs that are associations, clubs, or societies that are not charities and are organized and operated exclusively for social welfare, civic improvement, pleasure, recreation, or any other purpose except profit.

FAQs

It's been more than three business days since I submitted my deposit account and tax details for verification. What should I do?

There are times when the payment processor will request additional information about the deposit account and/or the billing administrator for security purposes. You can learn more about this by reviewing our Verify a Billing Account resource.

In these cases, brightwheel's Payment Operations team will reach out to the account administrator for your program via email to request additional information. Please check your email for any communication sent by the brightwheel team or, email support@mybrightwheel.com for more information.

Why did my deposit fail?

If funds failed to deposit into your account, an automated email is sent to the admin noting why the deposit failed.

There are a few common reasons for failed deposits:

The deposit account information was entered incorrectly. To resolve, verify the correct information under Billing > Settings > Deposit Account
There are insufficient funds when a negative deposit is attempted
The withdrawal is not authorized by the bank or account holder when a negative deposit is attempted

To resolve this issue, please follow the instructions in the automated email to attempt to resolve the root cause. Once it is resolved, or if you are still experiencing issues, please contact verify@mybrightwheel.com. A brightwheel Payment Operations Analyst will provide instructions to help resolve the issue and facilitate any necessary re-deposit attempts.

Please note that in most cases, funds are not automatically redeposited. It's important to contact brightwheel directly to inform them of the issue so they can take the necessary steps to reactivate your deposits.