Where to find in-app payments
Famly offers speedier payments for parents that pay by debit card, credit card, and ACH directly in the app. Parents can pay their outstanding balance in Famly either automatically, or with just a couple of clicks, without any manual work from your site. Your financial reports and accounts will, of course, be updated in real time.
To find in-app payments:
Settings → Finances → Billing
Then select In-app payments
Check out the video below to get an overview of in-app payments in Famly:
Fees
Famly charges stated processing fees for in-app payments, as shown below. There are no additional hidden fees that you will incur as a site utilizing payment processing. You can choose whether your site or the parents will pay this fee.
If you pay the fee
When a parent pays their outstanding balance in Famly, the fee will be deducted before the money arrives in your account.
If parents pay the fee
When a parent pays their outstanding balance in Famly, the fee is added on to the total and shown as a separate fee.
💡 Tip: A few states do not let you pass on payment processing fees to the payer. Please confirm the regulations of your state.
Processing fees:
Direct Debit (ACH) pricing | Card pricing (credit, debit) | Non-US cards, AMEX, corporate cards |
$0.60 if paid by site | 2.8% | 3.25% |
$2 if passed onto parents |
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Payment Fee Scenarios
Below are two scenarios to help you understand how fees are applied to the total, dependent on who pays the fee.
Scenario 1 (If the site takes on the fees):
An invoice of $100
Fee = 2.8% on $100 = $2.80
Scenario 2 (If the parents are responsible for the fees):
An invoice of $100
Fee = 2.8% on $100+fee = $100 / (1-0.028) - $100 = $2.88
💡Tip: If your parents have automatic payments enabled in their accounts, the fee calculation will not appear prior to purchase.
Choosing payment methods permitted by your site
You can choose whether parents can pay your site by ACH, Credit Card and Debit Card:
Debit and credit cards
When paying by debit or credit card, the parents will be asked to enter their card details - just like online shopping.
ACH
When paying by ACH, parents will be asked to go through a verification process. They can choose between:
Manual verification (They enter their bank details, then 1-2 business days later, they receive two micro deposits called 'ATMS' in their bank account. They then have three tries to enter those in Famly to verify their bank account.)
Automatic verification (They will search for their bank and log in to their bank from the app. They then allow payments to be drafted from their bank account.)
Optional Settings
Payment Method Required
You are able to require that parents enter a payment method. Enabling this functionality will block bill payers from accessing Famly for general use (communication, attendance, etc) until a payment method has been added to encourage paying online and on time.
Please note, this will not block staff members with children from accessing Famly if they have not entered a payment method.
To toggle on this setting:
Toggle on Payment method required
Once enabled, bill payers will be greeted with the following message upon logging in:
Mandatory Autopay
In addition to requiring parents to add a payment method, you can also require that they sign up to be charged automatically as per your pre-defined schedule (weekly, monthly or on invoice due date - we'll configure these settings further below).
To enable this setting:
Toggle on the Autopay section (this requires the Payment method required setting enabled)
Once enabled, bill payers will be notified that adding a payment method will also sign them up for automatic payments.
Allow Custom Payment Amounts
You can decide whether you'd like to allow parents to pay custom amounts (not the full balance, for example).
You can also choose to define both a minimum and a maximum payment that parents are allowed to pay through Famly.
To do so:
Navigate to Finance → Reports → FamlyPay → Settings and click the Edit button next to Custom amounts and enter a minimum and maximum payment amount here
The minimum amount cannot be less than $10
The maximum amount defines how much a parent is allowed to overpay their balance
$0 means the parent is allowed to pay up to their full balance
$100 means the parent is allowed to pay up to $100 more than their full balance and end up in credit
Select whether you'd like to
Add a Statement Descriptor
To add a Statement descriptor, scroll right to the bottom of your in-app payments settings and switch on the toggle to Enable custom description
Text entered into this section will show on your bank statement when you receive payouts. Your bank may add additional information so keep it short and sweet!
This is particularly useful if you are part of an organisation with multiple settings - now you can add a unique descriptor for each setting so you know which payouts are coming from where.
If you decide not to add a descriptor, payouts will show they're from Famly Pay by default so you know it's from us.