Roles required: FinanceAR Full or Contract Full. This is the same access already needed to edit auto-pay configurations, so no additional role is needed for these settings.

Settlement and return handling is configured on each auto-pay configuration, so a school can treat tuition differently from donations. Navigate to Finance > Maintenance > Auto-Pay Configurations and edit a configuration. The settings appear only for configurations that use Authorize.net, because they depend on settlement results that only Authorize.net reports back.

All settings are off when the feature is released. Nothing changes for your school until you turn them on.

Before you begin

Use a separate auto-pay configuration for eCheck payments. The receipt method recorded on a receipt comes from the auto-pay configuration, not from the card or bank account actually used. The deposit automation looks for eCheck receipts, so a configuration labeled for credit cards that is used to take eChecks will not reconcile. See Configuring Payment Configuration.

Prepare an invoice template for the returned payment fee, with an accounts receivable account and a payment term.

Prepare a fee product for the returned payment fee, with a revenue account and a sale price greater than zero.

Prepare an email template for the message to the family, using the Customer Receipt entity and the email method.

Settings

Deposit Reconciliation. Off or Auto. When set to Auto, settled eCheck receipts are moved onto a deposit that matches the processor's settlement batch, and the deposit is marked as deposited. See Reconciling eCheck Deposits with Payment Processor.

NSF Automation. Off, Create Unposted, or Create and Post. When turned on, a returned payment is processed automatically the same way the Void NSF screen processes it by hand. Create Unposted leaves the fee invoice unposted so somebody reviews it first. Create and Post posts the fee invoice as well. Start with Create Unposted. See Voiding Returned Customer Payment.

NSF Invoice Template. The invoice template used for the fee invoice. The template supplies the accounts receivable account, the payment term, the classification and the memos.

NSF Fee Product. The product charged to the family for the returned payment. The product's sale price is the fee amount, so there is no separate amount to enter here. Changing the product's sale price changes the fee charged on future returns.

Family Return Email Template. The message sent to the family when a payment is returned, asking them to update their payment information. Leave this empty if you do not want the family notified automatically.

Pause Autopay on NSF. When checked, a returned payment pauses that family's stored payment so the next automatic run does not charge an account that has already failed. See Paused Stored Payment.

Note: If you set NSF Automation to a value other than Off without choosing both an invoice template and a fee product, the save is refused with a message and these settings are left unchanged. The rest of the auto-pay configuration still saves normally.

Recommended rollout

Turn on nothing at first and watch the gateway statuses appear on the receipts list for a week. Add Deposit Reconciliation next, because it is additive and easy to check against your bank. Add NSF Automation in Create Unposted mode last, and review the first several fee invoices before switching to Create and Post.