Manage Auto Charge for customers

Auto Charge is the easiest way to get paid on time, every time, because invoices get paid in full on their due date, directly from your customer's bank account. There are a couple different ways to set up Auto Charge; read more below to find the one that works best for you.

Tip: Set up recurring invoices to be automatically created by the system then Auto Charge can take care of the rest. See Resources below on how to set up recurring invoices!

Jump to:

• Set up Auto Charge for your customer
• Customer sets up Auto Charge on their own
• Past due invoices with Auto Charge
• Email reminder
• Things to know

Set up Auto Charge for your customer

If you have your customer's bank account info (and their written permission to make payments on their behalf), you can set up Auto Charge yourself.

1. Select Customers in the navigation menu
2. Select the Customer name
3. Select More actions
4. Select Auto Charge
5. Select Authorized
6. Select Save & Add a Bank Account
7. Enter the details for the bank account
   • Note: When entering bank account information, the bank account type will be required. If the account is a Personal Checking or Personal Savings, specify the type of authorization provided by the customer to charge their account.
8. Select Save
9. Select Back to Customer
10. Select More actions
11. Select Auto Charge
12. Select Automatically Pay Bills
13. Enter Maximum Payment amount
    • The maximum payment amount is the total amount that will be charged to the customer for each invoice, including convenience fees, if any. If the Maximum Amount is less than the total of the invoice, the invoice will be partially paid.
14. Optional: Enter pay on date
    • the date the payment is to be debited from the customer's bank account (Credit card payments are processed immediately on the date the payment is scheduled)
15. Select Save

Customer sets up Auto Charge on their own

The customer can set up Auto Pay themselves, from the portal where they log in to pay their bills to you. They can follow the directions below to turn on Auto Pay.

1. Log in to the customer portal
2. Hover over the gear icon and select Auto Pay is Off
3. Select edit
4. Select Automatically Pay Bills
5. Enter the maximum to pay for any individual bill
6. Enter bank account details
7. Optional: Pay on date
   • Enter how many days before or after the due date the payment should initiate
8. Select Save

A customer's payment commitments can be locked in by disabling their ability to remove their bank information or turn off Auto Pay.

To Update your Receivables preferences (Gear icon > Settings > Receivables Preferences) so your customers are locked into the billing agreement they made with you:

1. Select the gear icon
2. Under Receivables, select Preferences
3. Select No for Allow Customers to Change Auto Pay
4. Select Save

Past due invoices with Auto Charge

If a customer has overdue invoices when you enable Auto Charge, or if you create an invoice with a due date in the past, we will initiate a payment for that outstanding invoice, up to the maximum amount set per invoice.

The withdrawal for the payment will be made from the bank account on file on the next business day. The record of the payment will appear on the customer's record in Cashflow360 within 1-2 hours of enabling Auto Charge.

Email reminder

3 business days before an invoice's pay date (either the due date, or the number of days before/after the due date as specified in the Auto Payments settings), we will email your customer a reminder and the payment will be scheduled. They need to make sure they have enough money in their bank account to pay, or they should cancel the payment.

The email will include:

• Your company name
• Invoice number(s)
• Invoice amount(s)
• Amount to be debited per invoice
• Pay on date
• Total amount to be debited
• Instructions on how to turn off Auto Pay (if applicable)

Things to know

• Auto Charge will need to be set up by a bank authorized user.
• We email your customer when an auto-payment occurs, letting them know the amount of the payment, the date of the payment, and which invoices were paid
• Automatic payments will be withdrawn from your customer's bank account on the invoice due date by default unless a different pay on date has been set
• If a customer has more than one bank account listed, choose which account to use from the Pay From drop down
• If the due date is a holiday or weekend, the payment will be initiated on the next business day
• If a "Pay on" date has been entered, the payment will be pulled when specified ("x" days before/after the invoice due date)
• Automatic payments will be made on unpaid invoices with no previous payments (including voided or cancelled payments), up to the maximum amount
  • Credits are considered a payment, and auto-pay will not kick in
• If a customer has multiple unpaid invoices due (or past due), the payment for those invoices will be grouped together into one charge. We will send one summary email, rather than individual emails for each invoice.
• If there are invoices past due when Auto Pay is enabled, payment for those invoices will be withdrawn from your customer's bank account on the next business day
• If Auto Pay is enabled, when a new invoice is created, payment for the invoice will be withdrawn from your customer's bank account on the next business day
• Auto Pay is not available for payments from customers you are connected to through the network