This article is for admins setting up billing and payments in Famly. You’ll learn how to define billing cycles, automate invoices, and manage payment methods.

To navigate to Billing and payments, go to Settings > Finance > Billing and payments.

Billing cycles

Set a Default Cycle

Each new payer is added to your default billing cycle.
To change it, click the three dots → Make default.

Choose When to Send Invoices

Monthly: Pick the 1st, last working day, or a specific date.
Weekly: Pick a day of the week.
Bi-weekly: Pick a day → invoices go out every two weeks.

💡 If billing is automated, invoices send automatically. If not, you’ll get reminders on that date

Define the Service Period

The service period applies across all billing cycles. You can choose to invoice for:

Billing Cycle	Invoice Sent On	Next Period	Current Period	Previous Period
Monthly	Feb 28	Mar 1 – Mar 31	Feb 1 – Feb 28	Jan 1 – Jan 31
Bi-weekly	Wed, Feb 12	Mon, Feb 17 – Sun, Mar 2	Mon, Feb 10 – Sun, Feb 23	Mon, Jan 27 – Sun, Feb 9
Weekly	Wed, Feb 12	Mon, Feb 17 – Sun, Feb 23	Mon, Feb 10 – Sun, Feb 16	Mon, Feb 3 – Sun, Feb 9

Set Invoice Due Dates

Decide when invoices are due. If you are using auto pay, this is also the date parents will be charged for their invoices.

Monthly: We support setting either the first or last working day or an exact date each month.
Weekly: You can pick a specific day of the week.
Bi-Weekly: You can pick any date of the week. Invoices will then be sent every second week after that.

Turn On Automatic Billing

To turn on automatic billing for your center, switch the toggle on. Automatic billing is applied to all billing cycles, but can be turned off individually for each payer in your center. Once confirmed, automatic billing will be enabled for your center and for every payer with a billing frequency set.

Learn more about automatic billing here.

Payments

💡 If you haven't set up in-app payments yet, follow this guide to get started

Choose Payment Methods

Decide which payment options payers can use:

Debit or credit card: Parents enter card details, just like online shopping.
ACH (bank transfer): Parents verify their bank account either:
- Manually: 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.
- Automatically: Log in to their bank directly from Famly to enable payments.

Payment Fees

Famly charges standard processing fees for in-app payments. There are no hidden fees that you will incur as a center utilizing payment processing (e.g. "other" / "maintenance" fees).

ACH (Direct Debit): $0.60 if paid by site, $2 if passed to parents
Cards: 2.8% for US debit/credit cards
Non-US, AMEX, corporate cards: 3.25%

You choose whether your center or payers pay these fees:

If your site pays: The fee is deducted before payout.
If parents pay: The fee is added to their invoice and shown separately.

💡 Some states don’t allow passing fees to parents - check your local rules.

Payment Fee Scenarios

Scenario 1 (Site pays fees)

Invoice: $100
Fee: 2.8% of $100 = $2.80
Payout: $97.20

Scenario 2 (Parents pay fees)

Invoice: $100
Fee: $100 ÷ (1 – 0.028) – $100 = $2.88
Total charged: $102.88

💡 Tip: If parents use autopay, the fee calculation won’t appear before payment is processed.

Payer restrictions

Payment Method Required

You are able to require that parents enter a payment method. Enabling this functionality will block payers from accessing Famly for general use (communication, attendance, etc) until a payment method has been added to encourage paying online and on time.

☝️ This will not block staff members with children from accessing Famly if they have not entered a payment method.

Once enabled, 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 cycles (weekly, monthly, biweekly).

To enable this setting, tick the checkbox 'Require autopay'.

Once enabled, bill payers will be notified that adding a payment method will also sign them up for automatic payments.

Allow Custom Payment Amounts

Decide whether you'd like to allow parents to pay custom amounts:

Pay partial amounts (less than full balance).
Pay ahead (more than full balance).

You can set limits:

Minimum: At least $10.
Maximum: Defines how much parents can overpay (e.g. $100 means they can pay up to $100 extra).

More options

Edit Stripe Account Info

Change Legal or “Doing Business As” Names:

Click Edit details in the Verification section.
Update your legal or DBA name on the new page.

☝️ Note: Updating legal details may trigger a second round of Stripe verification.

Add a Statement Descriptor

You can customize how payouts appear on your bank statements:

Scroll to the bottom of Billing and payments settings.
Switch on Enable custom description.
Enter a short descriptor (keep it simple - banks may add extra details).

💡 This is especially useful if you’re part of an organization with multiple settings, so you can quickly identify which payouts belong where.

If you don’t add a custom descriptor, payouts will show as Famly in-app payments by default.

Customize Your Invoice Layout

Customize your own ceneter's invoice layout to create an invoice that works for you.

Add your logo
Edit your invoice header and footers

Advanced Invoice Settings:

Add a greeting
Show/hide hours on invoices
Show/hide the payer’s current balance
Show recent and future transactions

🔒 To edit your site's invoice layout, you'll need the Manage Financial and Occupancy Settings permission enabled.

Once you're ready, click Save layout changes to update your invoice settings.

Billing & Payments settings