Setting Up an Installment Plan

Availability: all plans

This guide walks through proposing an installment plan on an unpaid invoice. You choose how many payments, how often they fall, when the first is due and whether the customer is charged automatically. The platform works out the schedule, so the numbers you read to the customer are the numbers the plan will use. This is a payment arrangement you offer, not financing from a lender.

Before you start

You need permission to create installment plans.
The invoice must still have an amount due and must not already have an installment plan. If either is false, you are returned to the invoice with a message.
For automatic payments you need a connected payment processor, and the customer needs a saved payment method. Without a connection the Enable Automatic Payments option is switched off and a warning links to Connect a payment processor or Finish payment processor setup.

Steps

Open the invoice and select Set Up Installment Plan. The page shows the Customer, Invoice Total and Amount Due.
Enter a Down Payment (optional) if you want one. It is collected when the plan is signed, together with any fees on the invoice. Leave it at zero if there is none.
Enter the Number of Installments. The minimum is two, and there is no upper limit.
Choose a Payment Frequency: Weekly, Biweekly (Every 2 weeks), Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-annually or Annually. Monthly is selected by default.
Set the First Payment Date. It starts seven days from today.
Watch the Payment Schedule Preview. It shows Financed, Collected at signing, Installment Amount and Final Payment, then lists the payment dates. It lists the first six and says how many more follow. It refreshes when you change a field.
To collect automatically, tick Enable Automatic Payments. Pick the saved card under Payment Method and tick the confirmation that the customer has authorized the charges. The wording is shown on the page, and you are responsible for it being true.
Select Create Installment Plan.

What happens next

The plan is saved as a proposal and you are taken to its page. The message reads "Payment plan of N payments proposed. It starts when the customer accepts it." Nothing is charged and there is no payment schedule until the customer accepts, or you record their acceptance. The managing guide covers that.

Tips

Read the preview to the customer before you save. It comes from the same calculation that creates the plan, so it will not differ from what is created.
Automatic payments are optional. Without them the customer pays you directly and you record each payment as it arrives.
A down payment is not part of the repeating installments. The Financed figure is the amount the schedule spreads.

If something goes wrong

A red message under the preview means the plan cannot be previewed as entered. Read it and adjust the fields. The preview figures show zero until it is fixed.
"Payment method is required for automatic payments" means you ticked automatic payments without choosing a card. The customer must have a saved payment method.
"Confirm the customer's authorization before enabling automatic payments" means the confirmation box is not ticked.
"Failed to create installment plan" means the plan was not saved. Check the details and try again.

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