Payment plans
Paid in installments, reminded on each one.
When a customer can’t pay it all at once, agree a schedule and put it in OnDue. The reminders follow the plan instead of chasing the full balance, and each installment has its own pay link.
QuickBooks Online, Xero, Odoo and Stripe Billing, on every plan.
Set up a plan
From the invoice or the customer’s page, on the web or in the Android app.
- Which invoices
- One invoice, or several open invoices of the same customer, in one currency.
- Installments
- 2 to 24. OnDue suggests an even split, weekly, every two weeks or monthly, from the first date you pick. Change any date or amount; the installments must add up to what the invoices owe now.
- A note
- Say what was agreed and with whom, for the team. It stays in OnDue.
- Tell the customer
- Optionally, email the customer the schedule as you create it, with a pay link for each installment. Your click is the approval for that email.
- Who sets them up
- Owners, admins and approvers.
Reminders that follow the plan
While a plan runs, OnDue stops its normal reminders for the plan’s invoices. It sends reminders for the installments instead, each with that installment’s pay link:
- Before
- A heads-up a few days before each installment’s date (you choose how many, or none).
- On the day
- A reminder on the installment’s date.
- After a missed date
- One reminder a set number of days after a date that was missed (or none).
Ask me first is the default: each installment reminder waits for a person to approve or skip it. Choose Automatic in Settings, Payment plans and they go out without asking. They come from your business, in its name, like your other reminders.
Payments count however they arrive
Each installment’s pay link charges what that installment still owes, never more than the invoice’s amount due. Your customer pays with Link, card or US bank account (ACH) through Stripe, into your own Stripe account, and the payment is recorded against the invoice in your books, as with any OnDue pay page.
What the plan counts as paid comes from your books, not from which link was used. A check you record in QuickBooks Online, Xero, Odoo or Stripe Billing counts the same as a pay-page payment.
Nothing is written to your ledger for the plan itself. The invoices stay exactly as they are.
When an installment is missed
- The day after a missed date, the team is told. If you set one, a reminder goes to the customer a few days later.
- If the installment is still unpaid when the grace period ends (7 days by default, and you can change it), the plan breaks. The team is told by email, and normal reminders resume for the plan’s invoices.
- Agreed something new? Reinstate the broken plan with a new schedule for what’s left. Or cancel a plan at any time, with a reason.
When everything is paid, the plan completes on its own. With credit stops on Growth and above, a broken plan can also put the customer on hold.
Customers can ask for one
Optional, and off until you turn it on in Settings, Payment plans.
With requests on, the pay page offers “Ask for a payment plan”. The customer chooses how many installments (up to the most you allow, from 2 to 12), weekly, every two weeks or monthly, and a first date, and can add a note.
The request comes to your team. A person approves it as asked, changes the schedule first, or declines it. Nothing reaches the customer until then. If you decline, you can send a short email saying you can’t offer that plan and will be in touch.
Questions
Which ledgers do payment plans work with?
All of them: QuickBooks Online, Xero, Odoo and Stripe Billing. Nothing is written to your books for a plan, so it works the same on each.
Do my normal reminders keep going during a plan?
No. While a plan runs, OnDue stops its normal reminders for the plan’s invoices and sends reminders for the installments instead. When the plan is paid, canceled or broken, normal reminders resume for anything still open (unless you stopped chasing it).
Does a customer have to pay through the installment link?
No. What counts is the balance in your books. A check or transfer you record in QuickBooks Online, Xero, Odoo or Stripe Billing counts toward the plan the same as a payment on the pay page.
What happens when an installment is missed?
The team is told the day after the date. If it is still unpaid when the grace period ends (7 days unless you change it), the plan breaks, the team is told by email, and normal reminders resume. You can reinstate a broken plan with a new schedule for what is left.
Can a customer ask for a plan themselves?
Only if you turn that on; it is off by default. Then the pay page offers “Ask for a payment plan”. The request comes to your team, and a person approves it as asked, changes the schedule, or declines it. Nothing reaches the customer until then.
Are late fees added to invoices on a plan?
No. Late fees are never proposed on an invoice while it is on an active plan, and a fee still waiting on it is canceled.
Which plans include payment plans?
Every plan, Solo and up, including customer requests from the pay page. See pricing; these are early-access prices and nobody is charged yet.
Next time an invoice goes late, let OnDue draft the first email.