Roles required: Stored Payment. This is the same access already needed to add or delete stored payment information, so no additional role is needed to pause or resume.

A paused stored payment is a saved payment method that PCR Educator will not charge automatically. Pausing holds the family's auto-pay arrangement in place without deleting their stored payment or their enrollment, so automatic charging can be resumed later without asking the family to enter their details again.

Pausing works with every payment processor. Wherever PCR Educator charges automatically, a paused stored payment is skipped.

How a stored payment becomes paused

A member of staff pauses it in Campus. Use this for a family between jobs, a disputed charge, or a payment plan under review.

The family pauses it in the portal, if the school has enabled that option. It is off until the school turns it on.

A payment is returned by the bank. For schools processing through Authorize.net, a returned payment pauses the stored payment automatically when Pause Autopay on NSF is turned on for the auto-pay configuration. Returns where the account holder states the debit was not authorized always pause, because banking rules do not permit the school to present that debit again. See Configuring Settlement and Return Handling.

What a pause stops

A pause stops unattended charging. The nightly automatic payment run, automatic account top-ups and recurring pledge payments all skip a paused stored payment.

A pause never prevents the family from paying when they choose to. A pause set by staff or by the family stops automatic charging only, and the family can still select that stored payment and pay in the portal.

Where the pause followed a returned payment, whether the family can still use the payment method depends on why the payment came back.

Returned for insufficient or uncollected funds. Automatic payments stop, and the family can still choose that stored payment and pay in the portal. The balance may well cover the payment now, and the family is trying to settle the account.

Returned because the account holder revoked or never gave authorization. The payment method cannot be used again at all, including by the family. New payment information is required.

Returned because the account is closed, does not exist, or the number is invalid. The payment method cannot be used again, for the same practical reason. New payment information is required.

How a stored payment becomes active again

This depends on why it was paused, because the two situations call for different answers.

Paused after a returned payment. The family enters payment information again in the portal. Saving it reactivates the stored payment automatically and automatic payments resume on the next run, with no action required from the school. The new payment information is the fix, so nothing further is needed.

Paused by staff or by the family. Somebody resumes it deliberately, using the Resume action. A hold of this kind is not lifted by the family updating their card or bank details, because new payment information does not answer the reason the pause was put in place.

Pausing and resuming in Campus

Navigate to Finance > AR > Customers and open the customer. Go to Stored Payment Info. Click Pause on the stored payment and confirm when prompted.

The Status column then shows the stored payment as paused, with the reason and who set it. To start automatic payments again, click Resume on the same row.

Letting families pause automatic payments themselves

This is off unless the school turns it on. In the CMS Portal, open the page that carries the Household Auto Billing widget, or add the widget from the Payments category. See CMS Portal: Stored Payment Info Management Widget. Check the Allow Family Pause setting and click Save.

Families then see a Pause Automatic Payments button alongside their stored payment, and a matching button to resume.

Families cannot resume a stored payment that was paused because a payment was returned. That one clears when they save payment information again, which is what the portal asks them to do.

Note: Consider whether these requests should reach the business office first. Many schools prefer to handle a pause as a conversation and leave this option off.

Where you see it in Campus

The Status column on Stored Payment Info shows the stored payment as paused together with the reason and who set it, reading Paused by school, Paused by family, or simply Paused for one that followed a returned payment. A pause that followed a return also names the return code and the receipt involved. The same status appears on the Customer Auto-Pay dashboard widget and on the Stored Payment Info page of the household editor.

When you run automatic payments, families whose stored payment is paused are listed on the Review Invoices and Process Payments tabs under a note that says they were skipped because the stored payment is paused, with a count. Their invoices are not selected for payment.

What the family sees

On the Auto-Pay page of the portal, a notice under the stored payment explains why it is paused, and the wording follows the reason. A pause the family set themselves says automatic payments are paused at their request and can be resumed there. A pause the school set says automatic payments are paused by the school and invites them to contact the office. A pause that followed a returned payment explains that a payment was returned and invites them to replace the payment information.

On the Pay Now page, if the payment method may still be used, a notice explains that they can still pay with it now and that automatic payments resume once they re-enter their payment information.

Families see plain language only. Return codes, receipt numbers and internal detail are shown to staff, not to families.