Payment Methods
Choose which methods families can use at checkout, record cash and check by hand, and set ACH, American Express, and credit card surcharge options.
How families pay, and how you record the rest
Payment methods are the ways money lands on a family account. Families pay online with a card or, when you allow it, a bank account. You record cash and check yourself when someone pays at the office.
Which options appear at checkout depends on Admin → Site Settings → Payment Info, and on the payment processor your camp uses.
Families never enter cash or a paper check during online checkout. Those methods exist so you can record a payment that already happened in person.
Methods families use at checkout
At registration checkout, canteen add-funds, and other parent-portal payments, families choose from the electronic methods you have turned on.
| Method | When it appears |
|---|---|
| Credit card | Always available for online checkout. Visa, MasterCard, and Discover do not have a separate on/off switch. |
| American Express | Only when Accept AMEX is on. |
| ACH / e-check | Only when Accept ACH Payments is on. Families enter a bank account, or pick a saved one. |
Debit, prepaid, and HSA/FSA cards run through the same card option as credit cards. They are not a separate choice on the checkout screen.
Families can also pay in full or choose a payment plan when the season has one. The plan controls when charges run. The method on file controls how they run.
Saved methods on the parent portal
Logged-in families manage cards and bank accounts from Account or My Account, then Payment Methods.
- They can add, update, or replace a card or bank account.
- Scheduled charges and retries use a method on file. See Retry Failed Scheduled Payment.
- You can find households with nothing on file using Families Without Primary Payment Method.
If a family says checkout would not take their card, confirm Accept AMEX if it is an American Express card, and confirm they are not hitting a surcharge or processor decline. The last four digits appear as x#### (for example, Visa x1234) on failed-attempt lists.
Methods you record by hand
When a family pays at the office, you record the payment on their profile Sales tab. Those entries are not processed by your card or ACH processor.
| Method | What it is | Where it shows up later |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | Currency received in person | Payments, Revenue Summary, and undeposited rows in Deposit Summary |
| Check | A paper check you will deposit | Same reports. The Type on undeposited rows in Deposit Summary shows Check. |
| Adjustment | A manual balance change, not new money collected | Revenue Summary as Adjustment. Do not treat it as a bank deposit. |
Cash, check, and some other manual types sit in Financials → Deposit Summary under New deposits until you group them into a deposit. Card and ACH settlements follow your processor instead. See Deposit Summary.
Canteen deposits taken at the office have their own Add Funds flow. The Account dropdown can include Cash (when Accept cash is on in Canteen settings), Zelle, a saved card or bank account, or Adjustment. See Adding canteen funds.
ACH and American Express
Turn these two options on or off in Admin → Site Settings → Payment Info. Changes save as soon as you toggle them.
Open Site Settings
From the left sidebar, click Admin, then Site Settings.
Open the Payment Info tab
Click Payment Info.
Set Accept AMEX and Accept ACH Payments
- Accept AMEX controls whether American Express cards are accepted.
- Accept ACH Payments controls whether families can pay by bank transfer (ACH / e-check) in addition to card.
When Accept ACH Payments is off, families do not see a bank-account option at checkout, and you should not expect ACH rows in Payments or ACH Returns.
When Accept AMEX is off, an American Express card is declined at checkout even if other cards work.
ACH timing, returns, and refund rules depend on your processor (Payabli, USIO, Finix, Payconex, Paysafe, NMI, or Stripe). See Payment Processors and What is an ACH return?.
Credit card surcharge
Credit Card Surcharge on the same Payment Info tab is the percentage added when a family pays with a credit card, to help offset card-processing cost.
- Enter the percentage as a number with or without the percent sign.
- Debit, prepaid, and HSA/FSA cards, plus ACH / e-check, are never surcharged.
- Most camps show a Credit Card Surcharge line and a label such as (X% Surcharge) next to the credit card option.
- In New York (and any other state that requires two-tier pricing), checkout shows two totals before a method is chosen: Total with ACH/e-check or debit card and Total with credit card (includes the X% surcharge).
When you refund a card payment that included a surcharge, the refund form can include Also Refund Surcharge. That checkbox starts checked. On Finix it stays required. See Processing Refunds and Voids.
After you change these settings
Site Settings save as soon as you change them. There is no separate Save button.
- Turning Accept ACH Payments off hides the bank-account option at checkout. Scheduled ACH charges can fail until the family uses a card instead.
- Turning Accept AMEX off stops American Express at checkout. Other card brands are unchanged.
- Changing Credit Card Surcharge changes the percentage used on new card charges and on surcharge refunds. Refunds use the rate in settings at refund time, not the rate from the original payment. If you change the percentage after a family paid, a later surcharge refund may not match the original fee.
Payment Method Updated Email on the same tab is the address that receives a notice when a family updates a method on file.
Troubleshooting
Related pages
- Site Settings for Accept AMEX, Accept ACH Payments, and Credit Card Surcharge
- Payment Processors for Finix, Payabli, USIO, and settlement windows
- Payment Plans for spreading fees over time versus paying in full
- Processing Refunds and Voids for reversing a payment, including the surcharge
- Retry Failed Scheduled Payment for charging a different method on file
- Deposit Summary for grouping cash and check into deposits
- Payments to filter collected money by payment type