Note: This functionality is currently only available for companies using Stripe Express (currently only in the UK) and can only be used by clients with bank accounts based in the UK. Read more about Stripe Express payments here.
One of the ways your clients can pay their invoices is via a bank transfer. Paying by bank transfer is as easy and as straightforward as paying by card.
How do I enable bank transfers on my account?
To enable bank transfers, head to your system Settings, and navigate to Accounting Settings > General. There you will find a checkbox option titled By default, clients are able to pay by Bank Transfer. Checking this box will enable your clients to pay by bank transfer when they navigate to their raised invoices.
The option, highlighted, can be found towards the bottom of the panel.
What if I only want to enable bank transfers for select clients?
If you have not opted to allow bank transfers by default in your general accounting settings, but would like to enables this for selected clients you can still enable this for selected clients by navigating to their client profile, selecting Actions > Edit Profile > Accounting & Client Manager, where you will find a dropdown menu that will enable you to override your branch setting accordingly, enabling that client to pay by bank transfer.
Conversely, if you have enabled bank transfers by default in your general accounting settings, but would like to disable this for any clients, you can do so by similarly navigating to their client profile, selecting Actions > Edit Profile > Accounting & Client Manager, where you will find a dropdown menu that will enable you to override your branch setting accordingly, preventing that client from paying by bank transfer.
How can my clients pay via bank transfer?
Once a tutor has marked a lesson as complete, and an invoice has been raised for that lesson, your client can navigate to that invoice (either via the 'Pay Now' link sent via the Payment request email definition, or by simply logging onto their client dashboard, and navigating to the raised invoice found on their Unpaid Invoices & Credit Requests panel.
Viewing the invoice will look like this:
Here, the button to Pay by bank transfer has been highlighted. When they select that button, a new panel will appear with the bank details they need to use to pay the invoice. The client can use those bank transfers to pay the invoice. Once that's done, they can select Payment will be made in the next 5 days - indicating that the bank transfer has processed and the payment will arrive in your bank account within five days, at which point the invoice will be marked as Paid on the system.
Note: It's important that your client ensures all the details listed, including the unique reference generated when they select Pay by bank transfer are correct - otherwise the payment will not go through or we may be unable to match the payment to the correct invoice.
Can I share the bank transfer details with the client myself?
You can indeed - simply navigate to the raised invoice, and select Take Bank Transfer/Card Payment towards the top of the window:
Selecting this will bring you to the same invoice payment page the client would see - again, you can select 'Pay by bank transfer' to view the bank details your client needs to make the bank transfer.
What if my client pays the incorrect amount?
If they pay less than the invoice total, the transfer will be refunded automatically, and the invoice will remain marked as Unpaid. If they overpay the invoice total, the difference will be refunded back to them.
What if my client inputs an incorrect reference number?
Stripe will match the bank transfer to the correct invoice - if it is unable to do this, the full amount transferred will be automatically refunded back to the client, and the invoice will remain marked as Unpaid.
I'm operating as an Emplyoment Agency, can my clients pay by bank transfer?
Currently, for invoices where the organisation is acting as an Employment Agency, clients who have saved their card details within TutorCruncher will not have the option to pay by bank transfer. If they wish to pay by bank transfer, they will need to delete their card details from the system.